Anam Cara's Summer Family Event
Anam Cara events are open to all families who have expereince the death of a son or daughter regardless of age or the circumtances.

Anam Cara focuses on supporting parents from the point of bereavement onwards, it is a long and lonely journey without our precious children, but by being able to touch base from time to time with other bereaved parents helps reduce that isolation.

On Sunday 15th August Anam Cara held their annual summer family event.  This year the sun shone for all the families who made their way to Barretstown Castle in Co. Kildare.  Picnics were packed and eaten quickly not to miss a moment of the many fun activities the wonderful volunteers at Barretstown put on for our entertainment. 

Thank you to all who took part in Dublin’s mini marathon on behalf of Anam Cara.

Click here to view all the photos from the great day...
We had 90 ladies walk the 10km (and one lady ran the distance) in this marvelous event and the sun shone all day adding to the great atmosphere.

The ladies met up beforehand in Doheny & Nesbitt’s (where the staff looked after us very well) and there was some careful tailoring on our Anam Cara t-shirts to make them more suitable for the sweltering heat!

Anam Cara holds its first Training and Development Workshop

The aim of this 2 day workshop was  to support and develop the current Liaison Parents in their role at Anam Cara and also to introduce bereaved parents who are interested in settling up a Anam Cara satellite group in their locality to the role and responsibilities of the role. 

A total of 32 Parents attended this training workshop.  We had excellent  guest speakers over the two days, namely Peter Hanlon and Nuala Harmey two professionals who work closely with bereaved parents and siblings.  We really appreciate their input to the workshop.

Over the two days the various topics and content covered:

• the Core Values of our organisation
• List the resources available to bereaved parents and siblings who come into contact with us
• Identify ways to protect your well being as a Liaison Parent
• Communication and group facilitation skills
• Deal effectively with any issues that may arise during a satellite meeting

We would like to thank all the wonderful parents who travelled from all over Ireland to attend this event. Although it was a tiring couple of days, it was also a huge learning process for all who attended. 

One of the most powerful aspects of the workshop is what makes Anam Cara unique, in terms of the support we give each other, was to see bereeaved parents, who had not met each other before, connect and become friends over the two days.

Anam Cara will hold this workshop next year for any bereaved parents who are interested in becoming Liaison parents in their area.  If you would like to find out more about the Liaison Parent role, please either email us at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or call our information line on 085 2888 888

Anam Cara’s 1st Anniversary 

It is hard to believe the growth of Anam Cara in 12 months, since our launch on the 5th of February 2008, the organisation has helped 500 bereaved parents.

Anam Cara has grown from a single parent support group in Dublin a year ago, to nine support groups, organised and facilitated by 20 Liaison parents, and has extended its services to the four provinces of Ireland.

These support groups offer a safe place where bereaved parents can meet and support each other through the journey after the death of their son or daughter.  (Groups are held in Cork, Mayo, Galway, Louth, Tipperary, Dublin West, Dublin South, Dublin South West, Donegal).  With more groups planned in 2009/2010.

The Anam Cara Satellite Lending Library

Anam Cara is delighted to announce the introduction of a lending library at all of our Sateliite Groups from the end of March 2009.

Anam Cara and Social Entrepreneurs Ireland

In October of this year Sharon Vard, Co Founder of Anam Cara was awarded a Social Entrepreneurs Ireland 2008 level 2 Award.

Social Entrepreneurs Ireland aims to ignite social change by identifying, investing in and supporting Irish social entrepreneurs – individuals who are prepared to take risks by applying their energy, drive, ambition and innovation to tackle some of Ireland’s most entrenched social problems.

Anam Cara is now an Official Charity!

We are delighted to annouce that Anam Cara is now an official charity. We would like to sincerely thank John Murphy and Lisa Collins from J A Sinnotts Solicitors who helped us achieve this.

Our official charity number is CHY 18073.