Since the start of the pandemic, the demand for bereavement support has soared and I have been privileged to be given the opportunity to provide support for those coming to terms with their grief by working as a volunteer on the Cruse helpline.
Cruse is a bereavement support organisation focused on helping people who are grieving, regardless of the nature of, and time passed since the death of their loved one. We provide a national helpline, live chat and group, zoom, telephone and one-to-one in person support. Not only that, our Cruse website provides a wealth of information and resources for those coming to terms with a death.
Recently Cruse has added a personalised support tool to the website. Going through a grief process can be very changeable - one day we may feel like we’re doing ok and the next, it’s like we can’t get through the day because we’re completely consumed with our loss. The online support tool which can be found here, allows you to answer a few questions about how you’re doing and provides suggestions about what might be helpful to support you. This might be hearing our Cruse Grief Experts talking about common difficulties that arise following the death of someone in our life such as feeling like we’re not coping with our grief, feeling like we’ll be sad forever or that nobody knows how we’re feeling. It may be suggesting that you speak to us via our Cruse Chat online chat service or call our helpline.
Since working on the helpline I’ve recognised the importance of having space to come to terms with a death. Sometime we feel like we should just get on with life or fear that if we stop to think about our loss we’ll not be able to keep going. It’s so important to acknowledge our grief, so whether it is to find out about accessing bereavement support or to explore resources such as our personalised support tool, please do check out our website at www.cruse.org.uk and please don’t suffer in silence – we are here to help.