Family Support & Counselling
Counselling
Services for you and your family
Our Family Support and Counselling team is able to offer counselling to patients, carers and family members. We can also support bereaved adults and children where there is a prior connection with the Hospice.
We offer face-to-face, telephone or online support. Please call us on 01606 551246 or email to talk about how we can help.
Bereavement Support Groups for Adults
Bereavement Support Group
The Hospice hosts a monthly Bereavement Support Group (evening) and Bereavement Support Group Cafe (daytime) exploring issues around bereavement.
About the groups
We hold two support groups each month to support bereaved people. These groups are held in the Hospice and run on a drop-in basis.
Bereavement Support Group – this is a warm and welcoming support group held once a month in the evening, facilitated by trained counsellors and volunteers. It is run as a structured session where you are able to meet others in a similar position and in a safe space, creating a sense of belonging which can help with feelings of isolation and which promotes mutual support and encouragement. After 18 months attendees are invited to move to the Bereavement Support Cafe for onging support, if required.
Bereavement Support Cafe – this is a friendly, informal group held at the Hospice monthly in the daytime. It is run by volunteers with support from St Luke’s counsellors. The cafe provides a relaxing and safe space for people who are bereaved to meet and chat. Individuals can choose to attend the Cafe without prior attendance at the Support Group if more social, informal peer support feels right for them.
Who can attend?
Any adult in the community affected by bereavement through illness is welcome to attend our Bereavement Support Groups. There does not need to have been prior involvement with the Hospice.
For more information please contact St Luke’s Family Support and Counselling Team directly on 01606 551246 or by email. Alternatively you can be referred by a healthcare professional.
Support for the family
Support for Families with Children
It can be very difficult to explain to children what is going on when a loved one becomes ill or there is a bereavement in the family. It can be hard to cope with their reactions when you are uncertain of your own, or you may feel a need to protect them from the emotional upset.
Our experienced family counselling team can help you when it comes to having difficult conversations with children and young people. We can talk with you and your children about how best we can support you as a family. We are able to offer individual or family support or counselling to those families who are affected by a progressive illness and are accessing one of our other St Luke’s services.
How to help bereaved children
Please click on the button below to view our leaflet ‘Helping bereaved children and young people’.
Support for Children
Phoenix Bereavement Support Group
Our Phoenix Bereavement Support Group aims to support families by providing a safe and friendly environment where children and young people can feel accepted and secure.
We support young people age 8-16 who have experienced the death, through illness, of someone important to them. We aim to help them understand the feelings and experiences associated with loss and change, to look at possible coping strategies and provide practical tools to help cope and to meet other children who are in a similar situation.
Trained staff facilitate the group sessions in a variety of age-appropriate activities that may vary from arts & crafts, games, storytelling, and writing. Families do not necessarily need to have had previous contact with the hospice to attend the group, only that the death was through illness and that a period of 3 months has elapsed since the death.
A referral form for our family support services can be completed by a healthcare professional, or parents or carers can contact St Luke’s Family Support and Counselling Team directly on 01606 551246 or by email.
Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy Team
“As human beings we like to find some sense and meaning to what befalls us in our lives”.
We here at St Luke’s Chaplaincy offer a range of services suitable for people from a wide range of faiths, beliefs and backgrounds. We provide a safe and non-judgemental environment, aiming to bring peace to individuals in their time of need.
Here at the chaplaincy we believe that spiritual care is not just about religion. We offer support to patients and their families with limited or no religious faith. We are here to offer support for deeper questions, as well as be a source of hope and strength to patients and their families in a time of fear or anxiety. We will try our best to answer your questions but not try to persuade you of any particular view of life.
Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy Team
Services we offer
- One to one support
- Small group gatherings
- Meditation, Mindfulness and other forms of reflection
- Holy Communion on a one to one basis
- Evening of Remembrance Services
- Chapel Service on Mondays and Tuesdays at 11:30am; accessible in person or online
Our Chaplaincy Team come from a range of backgrounds, faith journeys and professions. We all have an interest in spirituality and issues of faith, as well as a desire to walk alongside others offering help and support whatever their views or beliefs. We are here to help and reassure you and your families in all aspects of your stay at St Luke’s Hospice.
Contact Heather Carty: heather.carty@slhospice.co.uk
