Practical tips for providing compassionate bereavement support        

Charities can be a wonderful source of support for bereaved families. In this article we offer some expert advice to help you provide bereavement support to suit the expertise, time and resources that you have available.

Our expert, Catherine Betley is the founder of GriefChat and head of the charity arm of MuchLoved. She has 25 years of experience in counselling services and a particular specialism in developing bereavement support.   

Four simple steps that will help many bereaved supporters 

Most supporters that you work with will have low level bereavement care needs; very few will need intensive bereavement counselling. This means that, with a few basics, you can provide valuable help for many bereaved supporters and their families.

Catherine recommends four simple steps for charities: 

1. From your website, link to an aggregator site which will help people find local, national and specialist organisations.  AtaLoss and The Good Grief Trust  are both reputable and have a good search facility

2. Other useful website content could include podcasts, books and leaflets from experts

3. Check regularly that all the information on your website is up to date 

4. If you recommend external counsellors or services, ensure they are appropriately accredited or registered. Individual counsellors and psychotherapists should be on a Professional Standards Agency accredited register, whilst organisations should be members of a reputable professional body  

Other bereavement support services that you could offer 

Bereaved people are bombarded with information and admin that needs to be dealt with, especially in the immediate days and weeks, so offer support that is simple and reliable.  In addition to the basics mentioned above, charities might offer:  

• Informal drop-in sessions run by a member of your family liaison team 
• Access to formal grief groups 
• Access to in-house or external counsellors  
• Links to helplines run by other charities 
• Instant chat support services, e.g. GriefChat  
• Bereavement centres in your community  
• Online tributes can also be a good start for many bereaved families 

Important considerations for your charity

If you are thinking about introducing new services, here are some things to consider for your charity and staff: 

• You’re not expected to be bereavement counsellors – supporters will welcome your time and the benefit of your expertise 
• Think about all the supporters you’ve dealt with over 12 months and what they needed.  Focus on simple steps which could help many people, not just the exceptional cases.  This is further explained by the Stepped Care Model for bereavement 
• There may be other local charities or organisations that you can support or send people to rather than setting up something yourself   
• What is the likely cost and impact on your existing resources 
• Self-care is really important.  Look after yourselves, or you won’t be able to look after other people.  Beware of stretching yourselves too far, physically and emotionally  

Watch our 45-minute webinar to hear all of Catherine’s recommendations. 

For more insights, take a look at our earlier webinar on Common Myths Around Grief and Loss, presented by grief expert John Wilson.  

GriefChat

At MuchLoved, we’re committed to supporting our partners and we’re looking at how we can help charities and funeral businesses to provide more bereavement support.  If you have questions about the MuchLoved service, please contact our Support team.  Email support@muchloved.com or call our team on 01494 722818