Safer London and UCL Collaboration

Developing better bereavement support for those affected by murder

Introduction

In 2021, there were 30 teenage homicide victims in London alone. The impact of these losses on family, friends, neighbourhood and communities are long-lasting and profoundly traumatic – and those affected have reported that the existing model of bereavement care they receive too often fails to meet the needs of parents, siblings, friends and wider family and community members.

About

This project was initiated by a mother, Karen Green Stewart, whose son Lamar Stewart was murdered in 2017. Together with Safer London and Karen Green Stewart, UCL are working, using qualitative research methods, with individuals who have been bereaved to find out more about existing forms of support, and to learn from them in order to develop a better model for providing the complex and much-needed help families and communities deserve.