A new online class is helping people to connect with the mothers and mother figures in their life who have passed away.
The initiative was started by Karlene Roberts who grew up for most of her life without her mother Jacqueline, after she passed away when Karlene was just four years old.
After not really knowing her mother and being upset and not having her in her life, Karlene wrote the first ever letter to Jacqueline in 2007. For the first time in her life, she was grateful for everything her Mum did for her, including bringing her into the world.
Karlene found that by writing letters over time, it gave her an increased quality of life, peace, and a relationship to her mother as a source of power and support that she didn’t even know was possible.
Karlene said:
I went for 20 years without connecting with my late Mum after not really knowing her for most of my life. In my first ever letter to her, I got how amazing she was as a human being. And, despite her no longer being with me physically, I soon realised that I could write to her whenever I wanted and share what was happening in my life right now.
It was a truly incredible experience and I knew that I had to offer this to other people in my life as well.
In 2016 Karlene ran her first ever event which gave others the opportunity to experience what she had done through writing the letters, which was attended by more than one hundred people.
Other live events were planned this year but due to ongoing Covid restrictions Karlene has decided to host them online.
The events are aimed at people whose mothers, grandmothers, godmothers or guardians have passed away as a way to reconnect with them and what they meant to us.
Karlene is hosting the events every month on Zoom. To book your place visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/letters-to-my-mother-guided-letter-writing-sessions-tickets-104068479624
A crowd funder has also been launched to help raise money for the initiative: https://www.gofundme.com/f/letters-to-my-mother-2020.