However long an estrangement lasts, we understand how difficult it can be to endure the silence, the stigma and the isolation that can stem from living without a close family network.

Before finding Stand Alone, many of our beneficiaries felt unable to speak openly about difficult family situations with their friends or partners, for fear of judgement or rejection.

In the first year of operation, we helped over one hundred people in the London area to meet another person that understood their difficult family situation and talk about the experience of the the living loss.

What are we doing for you?

We offer innovative advice and support services for all people experiencing estrangement. We help people of all ages who feel they have been cut off as well as those who have walked away.

We run support groups, a range of therapeutic workshops and a programme to connect people for ongoing emotional support. Our direct support services are currently focussed in London, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Brighton, Bristol and Manchester.

We have published online  information and advice guides for all people experiencing estrangement or disownment who can’t reach a group or workshop. To complement our online advice, we have a podcast, where members of our community tell their story.

What are we doing with other organisations and agencies?

There is an absence of comprehensive research into family estrangement. We believe that greater formal understanding of estrangement, disownment and its impact is necessary to define the needs of people in this position.

We have built meaningful relationships with university research departments and independent researchers to improve knowledge around family estrangement. We have published comprehensive research on the prevalence and impact of estrangement for students and young people.

You can read our ‘Hidden Voices’ report, made in partnership with University of Cambridge, which brings together the voices of 800 beneficiaries, of all ages, who are estranged from their family or key family member.

At the same time, we want to continue to break down the stigma around family estrangement by raising awareness. We are currently offering case studies to the media that illustrate the difficulties that parents face when estranged from their child, and indeed the necessity for adult children to step away from a dangerous or emotionally dysfunctional family. You can read the impact of this work here.

There are always instances where it’s right to find judgement-free help with a difficult family situation.

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