Chasing Dragonflies is a gentle space for parents, grandparents and families navigating the grief that follows the death of a baby, child or teenager. It began as a personal blog, and has grown into somewhere trusted by families, and by the schools, hospitals, hospices and counsellors who support them too.
About Kelly
I’m Kelly – a writer, bereaved parent and the person behind Chasing Dragonflies. Everything here comes from lived experience, not theory. I’m a Christian and my faith has been a cornerstone throughout my grief. Through my writing and my books, I hope to help children and families feel a little less alone in the hardest moments.
Read my bereavement story → Why I write about grief
About Abi
Abi was my eldest child – vibrant, dearly loved and healthy – until her life was cut short by a sudden and medically ‘catastrophic’ brain haemorrhage when she was 12.
Read posts about Abi → All About Abi
My books
The Dragonfly Story is a child-friendly retelling of the well-known ‘Waterbugs and Dragonflies’ fable, written to help children understand death. The story is framed around our own experience — the loss of a sibling — but the fable at its heart speaks to any loss a child may be facing. It’s used by families, and by schools, hospitals, hospices and bereavement teams across the UK and beyond.
Read why dragonflies became a symbol of my grief → Why dragonflies?
Life, Without You is a gentle, guided journal for parents and families grieving the loss of a baby, child or teenager. Its prompts help take away the pressure of a blank page, offering a place to record your emotions and memories, at your own pace. It’s also shared by therapists, support groups and palliative care teams.
Who this space is for
Chasing Dragonflies is here for:
- Parents, grandparents and families living with loss
- Siblings trying to understand grief
- Anyone seeking gentle, trustworthy guidance
- Schools and pastoral care teams
- Hospitals, NICUs and paediatric wards
- Counsellors, therapists and support groups
My approach
I write with softness, honesty and respect for the depth of grief. My hope is that this space feels calm and reassuring – somewhere you can breathe, read, and feel held for a moment.
Where I live
I live near Cheltenham, UK, with my family, and continue to write and nurture my love of nature and peaceful outdoor spaces.
Please browse through my posts to discover more about my journey and how I coped in the aftermath of childloss.
Kelly x
I think all parents feel that they are making a hash of parenting at some time or another. All we can do is our best and accept that sometimes we will get it wrong and even when we don’t get it wrong our children may not share that opinion. Navigating one’s own grief is hard enough but trying to navigate someone else’s, particularly, a child’s, is extraordinarily difficult. Don’t be too hard on yourselves. I see life as a coin, one side agony, the other ecstasy. Without the former we would’t appreciate the latter, without the latter we wouldn’t survive the former. Time has a habit of filtering out the bad and leaving us with our happiest memories (if we let it). Life doesn’t tend to work out how we expect; I’ve given up looking for reasons, perhaps one day it will all become crystal clear.
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