Rennie Grove highlights bereavement support during National Grief Awareness Week

Rennie Grove Hospice Care is supporting National Grief Awareness Week by highlighting the need to talk about and seek support for bereavement.

For many people grief is a difficult subject, and National Grief Awareness Week is designed to help normalise grief and encourage more people to talk about their experience.

Senior Family Support Therapist Debbie Playford said: “At Rennie Grove we understand how important it is for people to share their story.

“Dealing with grief is painful and often isolating, and talking about your experience with others can be a way for people to cope.

"It helps to know you are not the only one dealing with the death of a loved one.”

Rennie Grove’s support groups, support line and grief chat services open up a safe pace for those in need to talk about their grief.

A previous attendee of a Rennie Grove bereavement support group, Irene, said: “The bereavement support group was a proper life-line.”

Another attendee, Jill, said: “It kept your sanity when you felt like you were going mad.”

The charity’s Bereavement Support Line is open to all, and gives the opportunity for people to talk to a trained volunteer or staff member in a safe, confidential setting.

You can find out more about this service here.

The charity also hosts Grief Chat on its website, which gives people the option to talk to a trained bereavement counsellor over text.

In response to restrictions cause by the pandemic, Rennie Grove has recently created the Online Bereavement Support Group to allow people to talk about their experiences and

ways of coping over video call.

While registration for November’s Online Bereavement Support Group is now closed, another group is planned for the spring next year to help support those coping with the death of a loved one.