Bereavement care is important for several reasons:
The death of a loved one can be an incredibly difficult and traumatic experience. Bereavement care provides essential emotional support, helping individuals process their grief and navigate the complex emotions associated with loss, such as sadness, anger, guilt, and confusion.
Grief can lead to severe mental health challenges, including depression, anxiety, and prolonged grief disorder. Bereavement care helps to identify and address these issues early, reducing the risk of long-term psychological problems.
Grief can also impact physical health, leading to issues like sleep disturbances, weakened immune response, and increased risk of chronic conditions. Bereavement care can help mitigate these effects by providing strategies for self-care and stress management.
Grief can sometimes lead to social isolation as people withdraw from their usual activities and relationships. Bereavement care often includes group support or counselling that fosters connections with others who are going through similar experiences, reducing feelings of loneliness and isolation.
Bereavement care offers individuals coping mechanisms and tools to deal with their grief in healthy ways. This might include counselling, therapy, mindfulness techniques, or other forms of support that help people adapt to life after a loss.
Bereavement care helps individuals understand the grieving process and reassures them that their feelings are natural. This understanding can promote acceptance and healing, allowing individuals to integrate the loss into their lives and move forward.
Bereavement care doesn’t just benefit the individual; it also helps families and communities by fostering healthier environments for coping with the death of a loved one. This support can strengthen relationships and provide a network of care for those affected.
Without adequate support, some individuals may experience complicated grief. Where the symptoms of grief are prolonged and negatively impacts on daily functioning. Bereavement care aims to prevent this by offering timely and appropriate interventions.
Our aim
The aim of the End of Life and Bereavement team is to ensure both patients and their loved ones feel supported and that all care needs are met with dignity and respect whilst providing individual choice.
Both dignity and respect are promoted by using the trusts end of life and bereavement CARE (communicate, ask, respond and engage) model.
The team encourages support for families by facilitating the provision of resources including memory boxes, books advising how to explain grief and dying to children, leaflets, knitted hearts, handprints, hair locks, parking vouchers, overnight beds, refreshments, sign posting to appropriate ongoing bereavement support within their local communities and to relevant agencies for practical or financial advice following the death of loved one.
The team provide education and shadowing opportunities for colleagues across the trust and are also involved in quality improvement projects.