Think a Holiday Is Just for Fun? Not for These Families.
Scotty’s provide holidays for bereaved military families. The idea was first inspired by Scotty’s Founder Nikki’s own lived experience. Despite initially not wanting to go away after the death of her husband Cpl Lee Scott, she saw firsthand the affect a family holiday had on her son Kai. The true impact of these holidays goes much deeper than you might imagine. In this article, Scotty’s Head of Service Rachel Scott explains more about that impact.
We prioritise breaks for families who are newly bereaved or families we know to be having a particularly tough time. We aim to send at least 100 families on a break each year.
Holidays are important for everyone, but for a bereaved family, they play a very specific role: creating an opportunity for the family to communicate and rebuild. Research has repeatedly shown that family cohesion and communication following a death has a significant impact on longer term outcomes (Holmes et.al., 2013) (Parsons, 2011).
Studies have noted that communication between the surviving parent and child or children is a protective factor for the child’s psychological health following bereavement (Howell et al., 2015) (Shapiro et al., 2014)( Weber et al., 2019). In fact according to research from the University of Cambridge, it is ‘considered one of the most important factors’ in adjusting to the death within a family (McLaughlin, 2019).
Scotty Breaks intentionally create opportunities for families to come together, bond, make new memories and talk to one another. We help facilitate family cohesion. And it works. In 2024, only 17% of bereaved families felt they were in a good place before their break. After attending a Scotty Break, that number almost doubled to 31%, showing just how transformative this time away can be. Families doing ‘not at all well’ decreased from 13% to just 5%.
Qualitative feedback from families frequently describes families under enormous strain; both emotional and often financial, with tension in the homes especially where the grieving children are teenagers. Breaks become a lifeline where the children can come out of their rooms and be together, and the parent can slow down and focus on their children instead of bills and work. For newly bereaved it can often be the first time families laugh, talk and feel like one day it will be possible to be normal again. Having that one good week can sometimes give families the strength they need to keep going.
The evidence makes it clear that building family cohesion following a bereavement is vital. Scotty Breaks give families that opportunity to connect. It costs Scotty’s around £1,000 on average to provide a bereaved family with a week long Scotty’s Break. If you would like to contribute towards a family break or support Scotty’s work please click here to make a donation.
Special thanks to Forces Support Charity for their ongoing support in funding our Scotty Breaks and also to Army Central Fund, Dandia Charitable Trust and Giving Days.
