Film trilogy explores loss 

koko, a multi-award winning blog for teenage girls, has just launched three new films exploring the issues around loss

The spoken word films, called Lost // someone, Lost // family, and Lost // me look at the issues surrounding loss of identity, bereavement, and parental separation.

koko Project Co-ordinator Meg Cannon says ‘The words of these films are the genuine stories of people we interviewed about experiencing loss. We heard from people who had faced bereavement, parental separation and the loss of their identity through anorexia, self-harm and anxiety.

‘The films are stories of great pain but also of honesty and hope. We hope the films spread far and wide to encourage the thousands of young people who are facing a loss in their lives.’

The trilogy was launched at the summer conference for Girls’ Brigade (GB) leaders (9 July 2016) as part of a special session focusing on looking at loss with young women – led by Will Taylor, Youth & Children’s Counsellor/Mentor and Loss Specialist, who until recently was Director of Christian charity LossUK.

The short films were produced with the support of LossUK and Poynton Churches Together.

Will said, ‘Children and young people are curious about the world that they exist in. They’re inquisitive from an early age about anything and everything. However, when they experience loss and the complex emotions that go with it, the significant adults in their life can struggle to know how to deal with it.

‘To have open conversations about loss can be freeing to a young person as we can help them, like a guide, find a way through. We can show them a language to describe new emotions, they can see that they’re not the only ones to ever have these experiences and associated feelings, and, most of all, it normalises these life experiences.’

The films can be seen on the koko website or via YouTube. Everything on the innovative koko site, a mission initiative from Girls’ Brigade Ministries, is created with teenage girls firmly in mind to help them explore life together – inspiring, challenging and encouraging them – and looking at tough issues such as self-harm, friendship, and relationships and sex.

 

koko stands for Keep On Keeping On and you’ll find it at www.thekokostory.com, as well as on Twitter and Facebook.