BEREAVED teenager Jess Candy helped launch a new charity to support youngsters who have lost their loved ones.

The 13-year-old, whose mother died in 2013, helped to launch Wiltshire Treehouse at Swindon’s Saltway Family Centre on Monday.

Wiltshire Treehouse is the brainchild of maternity and paediatric support team Rebecca King and Helen Pepler.

It aims to work directly with children and young people under 25 who are dealing with bereavement, as well as providing support and advice to their families and professionals, such as teachers.

Jess has been supported by Wiltshire Treehouse and the social group Rainbow Club since her mother's death.

“Rainbow Club lets me spend time with other people my age that are in a similar situation,” she said. “We don’t have to talk about the people who have died but we can if we want to, it helps us feel less isolated.

"I think we need Wiltshire Treehouse as there are a lot of people like me who need to know that they’re not alone.”

With support from national charity Child Bereavement UK and an anonymous start-up donation of £35,000, Wiltshire Treehouse will need £300,000 each year to run a full county-wide service and it will be fully dependent on grants and individual fundraising efforts in order to offer a free service for families.

In order to be able to provide a good service, the charity will initially serve a limited area and then as the funding base gets more secure it will extend into the rest of the county.

People who are interested in using the services of Wiltshire Treehouse or would like to donate can find out more at treehousewiltshire.org.uk.