Jennifer Appleton with her son Stefan

FOR families who have lost loved ones to knife crime, Christmas can be a time when they feel their absence more than ever, no matter how much time has passed.

After her 18-year-old son Stefan was killed in Canonbury 10 years ago, Jennifer Appleton and her niece Tanisha noticed a lack of support for families, so they worked with the police and local authority to set up Love and Loss.

In the nine years since, they have run monthly meetings at the Arsenal Hub where families help each other through a pain that only they can understand.

Now Jennifer and Tanisha are organising the charity’s first open event, focused on self-care and wellbeing for those families that might find it a particularly difficult time of year.

Jennifer told the Tribune: “They say time heals, but with something like this it doesn’t. It can feel like you’re talking about it again and again and again, while other people move on with their lives. But this is our new life; we can’t move forward. We’re not tired of hearing the same stories, because we know how each other feels. So Love and Loss is the place where families can still talk without being judged. Everyone knows what we’re all going through, especially at Christmas.”

Talking to the Tribune earlier this year, Tanisha said: “After the court case it was like, now what? Is this it now, is this life? We felt that if this is how we feel, then obviously there are other people out there feeling the same.

“I think it’s only if you’ve been through it that you will understand. So we’re able to come together in a room and everybody just gets it.”

Held at Lift Youth Club in Angel, Love and Loss’s wellbeing event is open to all ages, and will include a live DJ, face painting, manicures, a raffle and refreshments.

“It’s about getting it out there and letting people know who we are,” Jennifer added.

The Love and Loss Family Wellbeing and Activity Day is on December 6, from 1pm-4pm at Lift, 45 White Lion Street. Tickets available on Eventbrite.