CMH Bereavement Service

This service is available for families and friends of those who die while under the care of Countess Mountbatten House, and is led by social workers, together with, palliative care sisters and trained volunteers.

We offer bereavement support, a telephone service, relatives evening, and partners groups.

A relatives evening for friends and families of patients who have died is held every month. The object of these evenings is to enable families to talk about their bereavement. The evening is run by experienced volunteers and professionals. Families are invited to these evenings two months and four months after the death of their family member.

All bereaved partners are invited to one of our two partners groups. These groups have been a help to many partners in the moving on process. One group is for partners under 65. It is held fortnightly on a Wednesday evening and participants attend eight sessions. The group has two leaders. Groups are held each spring and autumn.

The other group, for partners over 65 is held monthly, on Thursday afternoons. The partner starts attending in the third month of their bereavement and can attend 12 sessions. Each month there is a speaker on a topic of relevance to those living alone or bereaved.

Telephone support

We try to contact the family of people who have died, at least once by telephone. Contact is usually by trained volunteers, sometimes by our social workers. These contacts are usually made about eight weeks after the death. Some families receive additional telephone contact if they need it, or go on to receive individual bereavement support from the social workers.

Individual bereavement support

Individual bereavement support is offered to people finding it difficult to cope with their grief. A social worker will meet with the person - usually monthly - to help them talk through what is happening and find ways to cope with the changes they are experiencing.

Children and Young People

It can sometimes be difficult to know what to say to children and young people when a relative has died. CMH social workers are able to assist by:

• Providing reading and other materials to help children understand and cope with what is happening
• Talking with parents about how they might approach this difficult area
• Working directly with the children themselves, where parents find this too difficult