Nicola Kenny has been grieving the loss of her brother, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The sister of a St Neots man who took his own life has offered her support to our We Need To Talk campaign.

Patrick Kenny, who had been struggling with his mental health before his death, died in February, just before coronavirus lockdown restrictions were put in place.

Nicola Kenny talks about the heartbreak of grieving during lockdown and describes her devastation as the restrictions meant the family were unable to say a proper goodbye to Patrick.

MORE: ‘Grief never goes away, but we grow around it’, says St Neots’ life coach Julia Sinclair-Brown

“I didn’t get to say goodbye to him in the chapel of rest, neither did my mum, this was extremely upsetting,” she said.

“I didn’t understand as I and the rest of my family members did not have any symptoms of Covid-19 at the time.

Nicola is backing our We Need To Talk campaign, which is supporting Sue Ryder’s aims to ensure everyone who needs it has formal bereavement support, as she has experienced first-hand how difficult it is for families to grieve during the pandemic.

She believes there should be free bereavement support for everyone, she said: “It has been really difficult during the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in the lockdown whilst we have been grieving.

“The police forwarded me onto a bereavement support service called Lifecraft, I have only had one session with them.

“My mum is still continuing to have counselling with them, but I am worried about my children.

“When the Covid-19 lockdown happened, the schools closed and there was no free bereavement support for them.

My eldest son who is 12 years-old is at a critical age and says he doesn’t need to talk about it, but I feel he does.

“I feel it is important to talk about what it is going on internally as it will really help that person to heal.”

The Hunts Post has launched the first in a series of hard-hitting campaigns called We Need To Talk and the first focuses on grief. There is also a We Need To Talk...Grief podcast.

We are supporting Sue Ryder’s aims to work with Government, health and social care professionals, the education sector and anyone else involved in end-of-life care and bereavement support to bring about change.

We are asking the Government to commission a review into current provision of bereavement services across the country.

To listen to the podcast visit: www.podfollow.com/need-to-talk