Burns support groups
Burns Family Group
The Burns Family Group offers support and information for families with a child who has experienced a burn or scald injury. We provide an environment where families with similar experiences can meet and support each other to help promote positive thinking.
Residential family weekend
This usually takes place in September at Littlehampton's Fire Service Rehabilitation Centre and is funded by the Children's Burns Trust. Several families from this and other burns units in the south east of England attend a weekend of therapeutic workshops, activities for the children, support from professionals and shared experiences from parent to parents.
Summer camp
In August, a group of 8–13 year olds attend the residential summer camp at Grafham Water, enjoying a range of physical activities and making shared memories.
Each year there is usually a National Burns Camp for children and young people between the ages of 8–18. The camp provides a place for children to meet who have experienced a burn injury and to help to develop their sense of independence and confidence along with often making lifelong friends.
Fundraising
The Burns Family Group needs to raise money to give children the opportunity to attend camp each year. If you are willing to raise funds or have any fundraising ideas, please contact Annette Maynard (Health Play Specialist) on 020 3315 3707 or annette.maynard1@nhs.net. Your support would be very much appreciated.
Support website for families of children who have had a burn injury
Supportingchildrenwithburns.co.uk contains information to help support parents or carers of children and young people who have experienced a burn injury of any kind or size. When a burn injury happens to someone you care about it can be as distressing for you as it is for them. This website is not just for parents whose child has had a major burn, as we know that it can be a difficult experience regardless of how big the burn was, or whether or not a hospital stay or surgery was required. Other adults, such as grandparents, might also find this resource helpful.
Previous events
We are now able to have in-person events and to plan activities for the year ahead. Recent examples include:
- Activity days
- National Burns camp in August
- Trips to Alton Towers for teenagers
- Annual Family weekend at Littlehampton Fire Service Rehabilitation Centre in September
- National Jamboree at Grafham Water in October
For more details please call Annette on Mars Ward on 020 3315 3706 or email caw-tr.burnsfamilygroup@nhs.net.
London Area Burns Adult Group
The group continues to meet roughly four times a year and is open to adults (16+) who have experienced a burn of any sort, at any age, and have been treated at any hospital. Although based in London, we have members from all over the country. We alternate between meeting to listen to speakers, have group discussions, and take part in social events. We are happy for people to bring family and friends with them.
We maintain a steady list of about 100 people. More than half have never actually been to one of the events. We occasionally remind people they can unsubscribe if they don't want to receive the notifications but we only have a few of those each year. How do we make sense of this? People want to stay connected but at the level they can manage. There is no expectation of participation at all. Having said that there are some absolutely lovely, kind, warm hearted people who do come whenever they can and we hear and see them be very supportive to others, especially first timers.
This is not a traditional support group and people do not usually come and talk in detail about their burn experiences. People do not directly ask "what happened to you?", "how big is your burn?", "how bad was it?" etc. People have sometimes confided in us before coming that they worry that their burn will be the smallest one or the biggest one - nobody wants to be too different.
People who feel comfortable sharing their experiences do, it feels quite natural. This group offers a unique opportunity to not only get support from but also to give support to other burns survivors. People tell us that it can be really valuable to meet others with experiences of burns.
Looking back on 2024
The pattern of our meetings continues to alternate in person (summer and winter) and virtual (spring and autumn) gatherings. This continues to work well, especially for those who find it difficult to travel into London. Our Summer event was due to be a picnic in Battersea Park but the weather had other ideas and gave us a downpour and local flooding instead. Those of us who still ventured out went to Battersea Power Station. We watched the aerial flyby for Trooping the Colour over the Thames and sat eating a kilo of strawberries in the free deckchairs outside the Power Station between the showers. In September we came together online to watch a recording of a session from the recent International Society for Burn Injuries and British Burn Association joint annual conference in Birmingham August 18-22 which you can still watch here. We are so grateful to the wonderful Dennis Gardin, Executive Director of the Georgia Firefighters Burns Foundation, for sharing his presentation 'Treating Burn Victims & Creating Burn Survivors' with us. With great charm and humour Dennis recounts his transition from teenage boy in the burns unit to the man he is today. After watching the recording of his presentation there was discussion of and appreciation for the personal account shared by Dennis.
Recent events
Our summer event on June 14th was a first for many of us - a Sound Bath - hosted by our very own group member, Seiem Ghebrecristos. A full yoga studio of us lay down for an hour and were bathed in sounds and vibrations from beautiful gongs, resonant instruments and even bird song. It did not feel like a whole hour and was very relaxing. Afterwards most of us met up in the hospital gardens for a picnic and catch up. Thank you to Seiem and to everyone who joined us.
Upcoming events
Our next event will be an autumn Teams catch-up on Wednesday 10 September from 6.30–7.30pm on Teams. Everyone on the database will have received more information and the Teams link in late August. If you are not on the database but would like to attend, please contact me using the email below. This meeting is an opportunity to hear from the Burns Therapies Team at Chelsea & Westminster about the latest scar management techniques and technologies. We will be inviting questions in advance. The format will be a 20–25 minute presentation followed by a Q&A and discussion. Finally, if there is time, we will open up a conversation on the somewhat controversial topic of the pros and cons of sharing photographs of scars and treatment outcomes as part of the decision-making process. We look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Other events
- Thursday 11 December 2025 in person end of year weekday evening gathering
For more information, to RSVP or to join our database please contact:
Lisa Williams
T: 020 3315 2504
E: lmwilliams@nhs.net
Dan’s Fund for Burns website and weekly live chat forum for burn-injured adults
Adultburnsupportuk.org brings together all of the most helpful resources and information on the aftercare help/support available to burn-injured adults in the UK and putting it on one site for easy access. A weekly moderated Live Online Chat occurs every Wednesday from 7:30–9pm (UK time) and has grown from strength to strength. The ABSUK Live Chat has been developed to provide the opportunity for those affected by a burn injury to share their story and give and receive mutual support in a real-time, safe and private forum. Chat is now fully moderated by people with lived experience of burns.
To participate in the live chat, users must be registered and logged in. If you would like to share your experiences or discuss any issues you may be having in relation to burns, please register ahead of time and then login on the night.
Hexi Burns Module
In March 2023 we welcomed invited speaker, PhD student Christia Huntington, to talk about her work creating a burns module of the HealthTalk website which went live in June 2023. This site has now transitioned onto Hexi - Health Experiences Insights. If you are interested in reading and hearing from others with burn injuries from those with lived experience of burn injuries you can access the site below and they would be interested in your feedback about the content.
Coping with the stress of a traumatic incident
We give this leaflet to our patients and families who have experienced a traumatic event. It contains information about how people might be affected, common reactions, helpful hints including grounding, self care and potential sources of help.