A Stirling teen who struggled to cope with the loss of her close friend has launched a new website to help other young people dealing with bereavement.

Gennifer Graham (19) hopes that through sharing her story on her website, she will give strength to others who have lost a loved one.

She has been working with Fixers – a charity that supports young people aged 16-25 to tackle any issue that matters to them, however they choose – to create the website.

Gennifer was 15 when her close friend Eilidh Brown, also from Stirling, tragically lost her 14-month battle with germ cell cancer in March 2010. Eilidh was just days away from her 16th birthday when she passed away.

Gennifer said: “After Eilidh passed away I lost interest in school and stopped going, and I also stopped talking to my old friends.

“I felt so alone and angry at everything and just wished that I had someone to talk to who understood how I was feeling. Eilidh died nearly four years ago now, but it’s something which still affects me strongly.” Today Gennifer is focusing on helping other young people who have been bereaved to handle the impact of their grief.

She added: “Bereavement can be such a huge thing to deal with especially when experienced at a young age,.

“I hope that my website will offer the vital support that I believe young people in this situation need. Hopefully it will help them to vent their frustrations and give them a release so that they can move on with their lives.

“It’s important that they don’t bottle things up and that they let someone know if they’re feeling down as it is helpful having someone to talk to. Above all, I want people to remember that it does get better.” To visit Gennifer’s website, go to soar.fixers.org.uk/home/about.php.

Fixers works with young people across the UK. Each Fixer is supported by the charity’s in-house team of creative professionals to produce a resource to get their chosen message across. Many young people choose to create a short film, website, poster campaign, information leaflet, or hold an event or flashmob.

Fixers has already supported over 14,500 young people across the UK to have an authentic voice in their community.

Young people have campaigned on issues with Fixers as diverse as cyber-bullying, self-harm, suicide and the need for more random acts of kindness.

Fixers aims to work with over 70,000 young people aged 16 to 25 by 2020 to help them to take action and tackle the issues they feel strongly about.