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Apart of Me: Helping Families Talk About Death

The world's first virtual space helping families find hope through grief.

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Apart of Me: Helping Families Talk About Death

Apart of Me: Helping Families Talk About Death

Apart of Me: Helping Families Talk About Death

Apart of Me: Helping Families Talk About Death

Apart of Me: Helping Families Talk About Death

The world's first virtual space helping families find hope through grief.

The world's first virtual space helping families find hope through grief.

The world's first virtual space helping families find hope through grief.

The world's first virtual space helping families find hope through grief.

Bounce Works
Bounce Works
Bounce Works
Bounce Works
1 Campaign |
London, United Kingdom
$44,001 USD $44,001 USD by 453 backers
$43,407 USD by 448 backers on Oct 27, 2017
Overview
Apart of Me is a safe virtual space helping families cope with grief, co-designed by bereaved young people and experts in child psychology. Using game design principles to provide a highly engaging, always-available healing space for grieving young people, it helps families talk, builds emotional resilience, and provides a safe space to store digital memories of your loved one. With your kind support, we'll provide the game, free of charge, to those young people and families who most need it.

UPDATE 19th December 2018

Apart of Me is now available for iOS and Android!

See our https://apartofme.app for more details.

Thank you to all our backers, supporters and volunteers. Apart of Me would never have become a reality without you all.

UPDATE 18th November 2018

Apart of Me is now available for pre-order from the App Store and coming soon to the Google Play Store. See our https://apartofme.app for details.

UPDATE 8th November 2017

Our campaign target has been reached and we will soon be starting to work on the next phase of development. If you would like to donate to our work the best way is now via the official Apart of Me Donations page.

UPDATE 24th October 2017

Today we reached our initial target of £30,000. We are dancing off the walls. Thank you so much for your support so far. 

Now we are very excited to announce our first Stretch Goal: The Emotion Explorer.

For just £6,000 more we will be able to create this new feature in the game.

This feature will be an interactive game within the Apart of Me platform that encourages the user to develop emotional literacy around their grief, and develop strategies to find some peace within their emotions.

Users will help their character find a large net hidden somewhere on the island, we will populate the island with scores of multicoloured dancing butterflies which the users will be able to gently catch. Each butterfly will relate to a specific emotion, and will contain age-appropriate content that will help the young person build emotional literacy around grief. Users will be able to take each butterfly they catch back to the Cave and set it loose so it can find similar stories based on that emotion.

 

Hi. I'm Jamie.

I've been a Young Advisor to the Apart of Me project since it began. My dad died 2 years ago and it really affected me: I got kicked out of school, started hanging out with the wrong crowd, I felt depressed and hopeless. Since being involved in this project, I've started a course in Graphic Design at college and my life is getting back on track. I wish I'd had something like Apart of Me to guide me when my dad was ill. But I'm so happy to know that other young people like me in the future will have Apart of Me to help them find a way through their grief. Let me show you what the problem is, what we've done so far, and what we are going to do in the future.

Recently endorsed by

Apart of Me solves one of the hardest problems any parent can ever face: How to help your children grieve?

Imagine having to tell your children you have 6 months left to live. Is there a more difficult conversation a parent can have?

Here are some of the problems Apart of Me is helping to solve...

 

Please go to our faq section below if you want to know the references for these stats above.

We're a small, fast-moving team on a mission. Since winning a grant from the Nominet Trust, we've been squeezing the value out of every penny, and have achieved so much already.

When we started out, we formed a group of brilliant advisors: bereaved young people, parents and professionals. We realised there were some core aspects we needed to create:

  1. A peaceful, safe virtual world that a young person can explore in their own time, at their own pace.
  2. A way for users to find safe and meaningful ways to connect with other bereaved young people to reduce the sense of isolation.
  3. A quest for the player to help explore their relationships in the real world, asking them to interact with loved ones in helpful and healing ways.
  4. Evidence-based therapeutic exercises to help users understand and find peace with their emotions.
  5. Helpful perspectives on grief and death in an engaging format.

These aims have translated directly into Apart of Me's core features:

The inside of the cave is a mysterious place for catching fireflies, exploring emotions, and hearing user stories from other young people around the world..


Each day, a new bottle arrives on the island, containing a quest for the hero. These quests encourage face-to-face connections with your parent(s), so that you can co-curate a beautiful treasure-chest of memories, and check in with these memories whenever you want. This feature is a digital version of the 'memory box' practice commonly used in grief counselling.


Find some peace with our mindfulness meditations designed to support the grieving process.


What happens when we die? Explore this big question by searching for the mysterious rocks on the island, listen to perspectives old and new, and develop your own understanding.

We made our prototype available for evaluation by interested organisations and professionals as well as young people and families in a variety of situations. We were stunned by how much demand we uncovered.

74% people would recommend the existing prototype to a family or young person who had someone close to them with a life-limiting illness. 

81% would recommend it with only one or two minor changes.

We now want to take the most successful aspects of our prototype and grow them into something amazing. We want to make the Apart of Me experience freely available for whoever needs it.

And here is the journey we have been on to get to this very exciting point:

We want to bring Apart of Me to young people who need it the most. To do this we are first of all focusing our attention on The Cave, the feature which created the most buzz during our user-testing. We plan on developing this into a rich, supportive environment in which young people can hear and interact with stories from others in a similar situation.
 

Apart of Me is a not-for-profit project. And, we are a very cost-effective organisation. We have very low admin costs. 

We promise you we will make the very most of each and every penny you donate, ensuring the money is spent on creating a tool that genuinely works, and making sure we get it in the hands of those young people around the world who need it the most.

These are some of the really exciting things we want to do in the future...

 

 

We are very lucky to have a small but brilliant team, including volunteers and part time freelancers and young ambassadors, who are really happy to support the project because they believe in what we're trying to do. Lets meet the founders of this project:

I'm Louis, and I'm cofounder of Bounce Works. I'm an experienced Child Psychotherapist, and I've spent my whole working life (that's almost 17 years) working with children and families who are marginalised. I was working in St Joseph's Hospice in Hackney counselling both families where a parent had a terminal illness and bereaved young people. I saw how the young people I was working with were just a tiny fraction of the numbers of young people around the world dealing with the death of a loved one without the means or support to process their often very difficult feelings. I also saw how bereaved young people had their digital memories of their loved one kept in chaotic ways on their phone amongst pictures they wouldn't want to share with their therapist or anyone over the age of 21! This made it difficult and awkward for them to honour, remember or talk about their loved one to other people. 

 

I'm Ben and I'm the chief techie here at Bounce Works. I'm focussed on how technology might be used to construct a "helpful" legacy. A legacy which could allow a bereaved young person to improve their understanding of who their parent was; to answer inevitable questions about their parent's personality long after their death. I'm also a Dad and I know that if something were to happen to me the "digital" is merely a side show, the only legacy that really matters is the one we all want to leave our children, a deep sense of love and self-worth that will stay with them and guide them for a lifetime.

Whether or not you’re in a position to make a financial pledge at the moment, we’d still really value your help in sharing the message about the Apart of Me mission and this crowdfunding campaign.

You can do this by sharing this page via social media, or mentioning Apart of Me to anyone you know you think might be interested.

We have had some really good press so far, as well as some amazing testimonials from young people, parents, and professionals who have tested Apart of Me.

View our press page for more details.
 
And here are just a few words that people have said about us:
 

FAQ

 

Who is this app for?

Young people who have lost a parent or other close relative, also those who have someone important in their life with a terminal illness.

We have designed the app for ages 8+.

Where can I get the app?

The current prototype is available for evaluation by interested organisations, professionals and individuals. If you would like to test the game please get in touch at hello@bounce.works

You can see a short walkthrough of the prototype below:

What devices will this app work on?
Apart of Me supports iOS and Android, phones and tablets.

How do I know this app is safe to play?

Apart of Me has been designed by our co-founder Louis, an experienced Child Psychotherapist (and former Child Protection Social Worker), along with a team of expert advisors. The game features checkpoints, moments at which the Oracle suggests that the young person check-in with someone if they are feeling particularly low or vulnerable. We also include phone numbers such as Childline at these key points.

This tool is in no way a substitute for professional support where that is required. It can be used on its own where appropriate, or it can be used as an adjunct to professional support.

There is currently no interaction allowed between the young person and other people through the device. You can learn more about our careful thinking around safety here.

What does the research say?

This app is based on a body of research that shows talking with children openly and honestly but in an age-sensitive way about death and dying can prevent them from developing entrenched, complex feelings around their loss.

You can find out more about the evidence-base this game is based on as well as the stats behind the problem graphic above here.

Where can I find more information how this game works?

We have produced a parents and carers guide which contains more information about the techniques used within the app and the information contained within it. You can find this guide here.

Is this a not-for-profit project?

Yes. Apart of Me is a not-for-profit project. We feel strongly this resource should be made freely available to those young people who need it at the point at which they need it. Although Bounce Works is set up as a social enterprise, Apart of Me is being run as charitable initiative. All your donations will go to a restricted fund under the auspices of Prism the Gift Fund, charity no. 1099682.  We have a contract in place with Prism the Gift Fund that enables this project to be deemed charitable according to UK law. Once you have pledged, you will receive a Gift Aid declaration form from us. You can find more details here.

Great! Does that mean I can claim Gift Aid?

Yes! As long as you are a UK taxpayer, you can claim Gift Aid. Once you have donated, we will send you a simple link to fill in your Gift Aid declaration.

Where can I follow you?

You can find us on Facebook and Twitter.

How can I  donate now that this campaign is over?

If you would like to donate to our work the best way is now via the official Apart of Me Donations page.

 

 

 

 

 

Looking for more information? Check the project FAQ
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Choose your Perk

Help One Of Our Young People
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Help One Of Our Young People

Currency Conversion $65 USD
£50 GBP
Give one of our bereaved young ambassadors the chance to attend a game development workshop as part of the next phase of Apart of Me's development. The small number of Young Advisors we have invited to our games design workshops so far have found them REALLY EXCITING! Also, Life-Transforming Memento Mori Sheet, Quest Cards, 1 Unit Wisdom Course.
Included Items
  • Quest Cards/Memento Mori
  • Sponsor One Young Person
  • Thank You From Young Oracles
  • Life-Death Wisdom Course - 1
21 claimed
Daily To-Be-List & Quest Cards

Daily To-Be-List & Quest Cards

Currency Conversion $13 USD
£10 GBP
Do you want to make the absolute most of every single day? Get your daily to-be-list, a digital Memento Mori worksheet, which will allow you to stay focused on what is most important to you, every day. Oh, and we'll also give you a full set of our digital Quest Cards which contain some of the most inspiring Quests from the game.
Included Items
  • Quest Cards/Memento Mori
  • Thank You From Young Oracles
11 claimed
Life&Death Wisdom Lesson

Life&Death Wisdom Lesson

Currency Conversion $32 USD
£25 GBP
Get one powerful lesson in the Life&Death Wisdom Course, facilitated by Louis in conjunction with some of the best therapists, coaches, and wisdom teachers in the world., as well as getting the Life-Transforming Memento Mori Sheet and the fun, interactive Quest Cards.
Included Items
  • Quest Cards/Memento Mori
  • Thank You From Young Oracles
  • Life-Death Wisdom Course - 1
23 claimed
Exclusive Early Access

Exclusive Early Access

Currency Conversion $32 USD
£25 GBP
Be the first to receive new releases of Apart of Me. You will be allowed into the elite group of testers who scrutinize every release, help us to track problems and also provide feedback on the content and tone of everything we do.
Included Items
  • Quest Cards/Memento Mori
  • Thank You From Young Oracles
  • Beautiful Zen Wallpaper
  • Early access membership
8 out of 30 of claimed
Waterfall Meditations

Waterfall Meditations

Currency Conversion $39 USD $58 USD (33% off)
£30 GBP
Get the full set of 9 waterfall meditations, used in the game, created and recorded by our Founder Louis. These meditations will help you to connect to your body, develop compassion for your self and others, work through difficult emotions, and find peace and balance.
Included Items
  • Quest Cards/Memento Mori
  • Thank You From Young Oracles
  • Waterfall Meditations
5 claimed
Full Life&Death Wisdom Course

Full Life&Death Wisdom Course

Currency Conversion $110 USD
£85 GBP
Get Full Exclusive Access to the 6-part Life&Death Wisdom Course. Explore fresh perspectives on death with Louis (www.louisweinstock.com), including exclusive recordings of some of the wisest teachers Louis has met and learned from over the years. Package includes lessons on death awareness, the art of life fulfilment, creative awakening practices.
Included Items
  • Quest Cards/Memento Mori
  • Thank You From Young Oracles
  • Full Life-Death Wisdom Course
3 claimed
Game Pioneer Hero Pack 3-in-1

Game Pioneer Hero Pack 3-in-1

Currency Conversion $113 USD $123 USD (8% off)
£87 GBP
Get 3 big goodies in 1 pack with exclusive early access to each Apart of Me release, beautiful Zen wallpaper plus you will help a young person attend one of our game design workshops.
Included Items
  • Sponsor One Young Person
  • Beautiful Zen Wallpaper
  • Early access membership
0 out of 15 of claimed
Hypnotherapy Session

Hypnotherapy Session

Currency Conversion $129 USD
£100 GBP
Get a hypnotherapy session with one of the very brilliant and talented Freemind hypnotherapist team. For increasing confidence, improving sleep, curing phobias and much much more! And get the Life-Transforming Memento Mori Sheet and the Quest Cards.
Included Items
  • Quest Cards/Memento Mori
  • Hypnotherapy Session
  • Thank You From Young Oracles
5 out of 30 of claimed
Limited Offer: Wise Hero Pack

Limited Offer: Wise Hero Pack

Currency Conversion $129 USD $239 USD (45% off)
£100 GBP
For a limited time only, we are offering you the chance to be a hero AND transform your life with this Hero/Wisdom pack. Get full access to the whole Life&Death Wisdom Course AND sponsor a bereaved young person to attend one of our game design workshops.
Included Items
  • Quest Cards/Memento Mori
  • Sponsor One Young Person
  • Thank You From Young Oracles
  • Full Life-Death Wisdom Course
4 out of 20 of claimed
Sponsor Grief Wisdom Interview

Sponsor Grief Wisdom Interview

Currency Conversion $203 USD $324 USD (37% off)
£157 GBP
With your generous donation, we will go and interview someone who has experienced a childhood bereavement. We will translate their 'grief wisdom' into beautiful content that young people going through grief can hear in the Apart of Me Cave, providing thousands of young people with comfort and courage.
Included Items
  • Quest Cards/Memento Mori
  • Full Life-Death Wisdom Course
  • Beautiful Zen Wallpaper
  • Grief Wisdom Interview
0 claimed

6months Life&Death Coaching

Currency Conversion $226 USD $362 USD (37% off)
£175 GBP
Get 6 months membership to Radical Alchemy coaching group, run by run by Apart of Me co-founder, Louis (www.louisweinstock.com). In this programme, Louis shares live and direct his very best wisdom on life and death, how to transform your inner struggles into a creative, compassionate, and deeply fulfilling life. Full Life&DeathWisdom Course inc.
Included Items
  • Full Life-Death Wisdom Course
  • Beautiful Zen Wallpaper
  • 6 months Life&Death Coaching
0 claimed
Gift Death-Ed to a School

Gift Death-Ed to a School

Currency Conversion $259 USD $356 USD (27% off)
£200 GBP
With your generous donation, we will train a school teacher or counsellor in a short inspirational curriculum on 'Death-Ed'. For too long our society has avoided talking about death, help us change that from the bottom up.
Included Items
  • Full Life-Death Wisdom Course
  • Gift Death-Ed To A School
  • Beautiful Zen Wallpaper
1 claimed
1 Year Life&Death Coaching

1 Year Life&Death Coaching

Currency Conversion $324 USD $453 USD (28% off)
£250 GBP
Get 1 year's membership to Radical Alchemy coaching group, run by run by Apart of Me co-founder, Louis (www.louisweinstock.com). In this programme, Louis shares live and direct his very best wisdom on life and death, how to transform your inner struggles into a creative, compassionate, and deeply fulfilling life. Full Life&DeathWisdom Course inc.
Included Items
  • Full Life-Death Wisdom Course
  • Beautiful Zen Wallpaper
  • 1 year Life&Death Coaching
1 claimed
Exclusive Ticket-Co-Design Day

Exclusive Ticket-Co-Design Day

Currency Conversion $453 USD $550 USD (17% off)
£350 GBP
Get your exclusive ticket to a co-design workshop with one of our young advisors. You will get the chance to really put your own imprint on the game., as well as have the joy of meeting our advisors, and having lunch with our founders Louis and Ben.
Included Items
  • Exclusive Ticket Co-Design Day
0 out of 10 of claimed
Be an AOM Advisor

Be an AOM Advisor

Currency Conversion $647 USD
£500 GBP
Join our Special Advisory group to influence the direction of Phase 2. You'll get an exclusive spot on our discussion group, as we start to discuss and create the next steps of what is going to be a beautiful and vital resource for bereaved young people. And: exclusive access - Radical Alchemy coaching group, full Access - Life-Death Wisdom Course.
Included Items
  • Quest Cards/Memento Mori
  • Coaching Membership
  • Join advisory group
  • Thank You From Young Oracles
  • Full Life-Death Wisdom Course
2 claimed
1-1 Consultation with Louis

1-1 Consultation with Louis

Currency Conversion $1,294 USD
£1,000 GBP
A deep dive 3-hour consultation with Louis. Here's what people say: "Louis is a joy to work with and I can't recommend him highly enough." Andy Puddicombe, Headspace “Louis is a forcefield of Compassion and Truth. Prepare to have your heart and mind blasted wide open.” Jamie Catto, Author, Insanely Gifted. More details at louisweinstock.com
Included Items
  • Quest Cards/Memento Mori
  • Coaching Membership
  • Join advisory group
  • Sponsor One Young Person
  • Full Life-Death Wisdom Course
  • 1-1 Consultation with Louis
1 out of 5 of claimed

Gift a Studio Day For The Cave

Currency Conversion $3,236 USD $4,433 USD (27% off)
£2,500 GBP
With your generous donation, we will book a high-quality recording studio, inviting a group of young advisors and people who have experienced childhood bereavement. We will make exquisite recordings of their stories and wisdom on life, death, and grief. We will upload all of this into the Cave, and your name in the game as a patron of the Cave.
Included Items
  • Quest Cards/Memento Mori
  • Thank You From Young Oracles
  • Full Life-Death Wisdom Course
  • Early access membership
  • 1 year Life&Death Coaching
  • Exclusive Ticket Co-Design Day
  • Cave Recording Day
0 claimed
Gift Apart of Me to A Hospice

Gift Apart of Me to A Hospice

Currency Conversion $6,471 USD
£5,000 GBP
Make our Apart of Me service available to a Hospice of your choice, along with training sessions for staff. We will make sure that the Hospice has everything they need to provide Apart of Me to every family and young person that walks through their doors for a year. Plus get a 1-1 deep coaching session with your founder, and lots more!
Included Items
  • Quest Cards/Memento Mori
  • Coaching Membership
  • Join advisory group
  • 1-1 Coaching Session
  • Full Life-Death Wisdom Course
  • Gift Apart of Me To A Hospice
0 claimed
Sponsor Young Apprentice

Sponsor Young Apprentice

Currency Conversion $11,001 USD
£8,500 GBP
With your donation, we will provide an apprenticeship to a bereaved young person from a disadvantaged background. We will train them in a) game design b) graphic design c) digital marketing d) coding e) Oracle training - how to support other bereaved young people.
Included Items
  • Quest Cards/Memento Mori
  • Coaching Membership
  • Join advisory group
  • 1-1 Transformation Experience
  • Thank You From Young Oracles
  • Full Life-Death Wisdom Course
  • Sponsor Young Apprentice
0 claimed
Gift a Mobile Recording Studio

Gift a Mobile Recording Studio

Currency Conversion $12,942 USD $15,855 USD (18% off)
£10,000 GBP
With your generous donation, we'll buy and kit out a mobile recording studio, taking the Cave on the road. We'll visit schools, hospices, festivals, the streets, recording people's wisdom around grief and death as well as giving people an immersive experience of the cave - this is an education experience of the heart, a compassion force-multiplier.
Included Items
  • Quest Cards/Memento Mori
  • Sponsor One Young Person
  • Full Life-Death Wisdom Course
  • Exclusive Ticket Co-Design Day
  • Mobile Recording Studio
0 claimed
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