A university student has praised an ’invaluable’ charity that has supported her family for 10 years after her father’s death.

Becca Greatbatch, 21, from Douglas, took on the Parish Walk this year in aid of Cruse Bereavement Care Isle of Man, which provides services to people dealing with the loss of a loved one.

She said: ’We found Cruse Bereavement Care 10 years ago and they’ve helped us so much that I cannot thank them enough.

’We started going on residential weekends where we got lots of support and we also got one-to-one counselling sessions with an unlimited amount of time from them.’

She explained that both she and her older sister, Zoe, still go along to the residentials whenever they are in the island.

’Zoe and I lost our dad, Robert, more than 15 years ago. I was six at the time,’ she told the Courier.

’He was amazing and so funny. He was massively into Disney and collected the figurines. We’ve still got them around the house.’

When Becca first went to Cruse she instantly felt like she ’wasn’t alone’ in her situation.

’You don’t realise how many kids are going through these things until it happens to you,’ she said. ’When I started going a girl from my school was there. I didn’t know that she had lost someone. Unlike a disability, which you can sometimes see, it’s not obvious that someone’s lost a parent until you meet them.

’Knowing that people are in a similar situation as you, you kind of feel some sort of relief.’

Becca says that having people to talk too and having somewhere to go for support also gave her mother, Karen, some ’peace of mind’.

’It took pressure off her. Knowing that we were okay was really good for her,’ she explained. ’Cruse is invaluable.’

Talking about bereavement and how society has responded to hers, she said: ’I don’t think people are aware to know how to deal with it.

’When I was younger we would share stories about our dad’s in the classroom, but people didn’t know how to react with me. I thought "why can’t I speak about my dad? Even though he’s not here, he was still a part of my life".

’It used to annoy me when people struck their parents off for not doing enough or refused time with them. I would think "why are you taking them for granted? When they are gone, they are gone".’

Becca is now going into her third year at the University of Chester where she is studying criminology with forensic biology. She intends to enter the Parish Walk again for the fourth year in a row next year.

’The Parish Walk is tough, but I wouldn’t discourage anyone from doing it. It’s something that they need to experience themselves,’ she said. ’I got to Peel all three times and I raised money towards Cruse during the first and third time I did the Parish Walk. Hopefully I’ll get further around next year with my aunty Angela Martin.’

She added: ’Cruse really is like a family. You can just connect with people and you don’t need to know why.’

Becca has now handed over a £590 cheque to the charity.

This year the charity is celebrating 30 years, during which time it has helped more than 4,000 bereaved individuals.

The charity offers confidential support and has a team of bereavement support specialists and volunteers that run its free services.

This support is available not only to children and young people, but also adults and the whole family.

Next year the charity plans to move to new premises to accommodate the ’ever-increasing demands’ on its service.

Amanda Cafearo, chief operating officer, said: ’This year is a time to celebrate and reflect on the enormous positive difference Cruse has made to our bereaved community. We are delighted to continue in the next phase of our developments.’

To find out more about Cruse and the service they offer, telephone 668192 or email [email protected]â??