Bereavement Services
Our team is well established, experienced and diverse and made up of a counsellor, Bereavement Support Workers, complementary therapist, and volunteers.
We aim to contact families six to eight weeks after their bereavement by letter or telephone, to ask if any support and advice might be helpful at this time.
Once contact has been made with the team, you will have an opportunity to discuss your circumstances and explore your current needs with the bereavement support worker and you will be advised of the therapies and support available which might feel most appropriate to meet your needs at this time.
This support may be:
- 1:1 by specified appointment and time limited.
- These may also take place remotely e.g. listening support via telephone/online Teams support.
- Newly Bereaved Group Support - accessing regular topics and wellbeing advice.
- We recognise that grief is unique, it is not the same experience for everyone we support individuals in a way that is both timely and meaningful to them.
We do not have a limit on the amount of time our service can be accessed, but we do review our support regularly and if support is required beyond 2 years after initially accessing the service we might feel your needs might be best supported elsewhere and we can discuss this with you.
Children’s Bereavement Support
We also offer support for children. For more information please visit our 'support for children' page by clicking on the below.
Supporting children
Grief affects children and young people differently. This can be impacted by age, temperament, time of life and circumstances of the death. Not knowing what is ‘normal’ or helpful to say or do to support them can be challenging.
Our team can offer support to help at this time. This may include advice on funeral attendance, support and steer for difficult conversations or reassurances of what behaviours are ‘normal’ at this time. We can support a child themselves directly or indirectly.
Indirect support might take the form of advocating for a child or young person, liaising with schools, colleges or other professionals. We can also support teaching staff or wellbeing and pastoral care who might be supporting your child as they are often more easily accessible.
For any information on bereavement support for children and young people contact:
Lisa Henry – Bereavement Coordinator
Telephone: 01924 331400 or email us by clicking the 'contact us' button below.
Contact us
Peer Bereavement Support Group
Our Peer Support Bereavement Group takes place on alternate Thursdays and runs from 9.30am to 12:00pm in the Seymour Suite (Day Therapy Unit) at Wakefield Hospice.
The Peer support group runs in addition to our Newly Bereaved Group which takes place on the alternative weeks.
The Peer Support group is suited to individuals who have been bereaved within the last 2 years and are known to the hospice. Staff will be available for support, but predominantly we aim for this group to be a peer/self-supporting group.
Please express your interest by contacting:
Lisa Henry – Bereavement Counsellor/Coordinator on 01924 331400 or if you have any questions regarding our Bereavement support and listening support.
Newly Bereaved Group
This group is suited to individuals who have been bereaved for less than 12 months and are known to the hospice.
Our Newly Bereaved Group runs from 9.30 to 12noon on alternate Thursdays in the Seymour Suite (Day Therapy Unit) at Wakefield Hospice. The dates and topics for both groups are on the group programme below.
View programme
As part of this group, a bereavement focused topic takes place between 10:00am – 11:00am. This is an open discussion within the group relating to the chosen topic subject for that week alongside this, we also have a wellbeing focused topic taking place once a month.
There is no need to book to attend this group, although it would be advisable to contact a member of the Bereavement Team beforehand (just so we can ensure that this is the right kind of support to meet your current needs).
There is also no obligation to attend every session, we understand that grief is fluid, so we encourage clients to ‘dip in & out’ as they feel fit and attend any or all of the sessions to meet their current bereavement needs.
Please express your interest by contacting:
Lisa Henry - Bereavement Coordinator on 01924 331400