Open every day (from 10 am - 4 pm and 7 -10 pm).
The line is always answered by a bereaved parent who is there to listen and support.
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Navigating Grief and Finding Hope |
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This is the third online event hosted by The Compassionate Friends offering an opportunity to hear inspiring speakers with their own perspectives on parental and sibling loss.
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Grenades & Guillotines
Navigating Grief and Finding Hope
with guest speaker Cathy Rentzenbrink
Tuesday 13 October, 7- 8.15 pm
Online via Zoom
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Join Cathy Rentzenbrink as she discusses the unpredictability of grief and the impact loss has had on her life.
In her talk (and honest and helpful book A Manual for Heartache), Cathy not only shares her story, but will take a broad look at sorrow, anguish, despair, loss and how to try to live with the knowledge that the world can be a cruel place.
Cathy was 17 when her younger brother, Matty, was knocked over by a car on a lonely, dark road about a mile from where they lived in Yorkshire.
She has described how she was often unable to control the way her distress burst out and her feelings of being a pariah. She felt like someone had taken an axe to her heart.
Cathy will discuss how she has endured terrible pain and how she survived. She will share with us the ways she found to make life meaningful and how she has learned to weave some joy in with the pain.
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Finding the Mourning Light |
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Guest Speaker: Andrea Corrie
Wednesday 11 November, 7 - 8.15 pm
Online via Zoom
Join Andrea as she speaks about her own journey after the death of her son James, her grief 'toolbox' and how she found glimpses of the 'mourning light'.
Andrea writes..."The aim of my talk is to give hope to others who find themselves in the uncharted territory of grief. I can affirm that, in time, it is possible for you to find a return to joyful, meaningful living, despite the absence of your loved ones. Whatever the circumstances of your loss, there is always a glimmer of light displacing the darkness and I will share my observations on ways to find it".
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Listen again to previous guest speakers |
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Autumn programme of online support groups |
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Some of our local support groups have begun to meet in person with social distancing and in COVID secure venues. However, we do appreciate that some volunteers and group members may be in the vulnerable category and will therefore make individual decisions on meeting up in this way. Please bear with your local volunteer and our charity if your group is not meeting in person at the moment - our priority and that of our volunteer facilitators must be to follow government guidelines and to keep everyone safe.
A huge thank you to the many fantastic TCF volunteers who are offering local groups online or keeping in touch with you by phone, e-mail and other messaging services.
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Upcoming groups for parents include:
Bereaved by substance or alcohol use
Bereaved by cancer or long term illness
Loss of a baby or very young child
Loss of only child or children
Men's group for bereaved fathers
Bereaved by suicide
Loss of an older child (35+ years)
Loss of a school age child (4-16 years)
Bereaved by road traffic incident
Plus, a support group for bereaved adult siblings only (18 years+)
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Crowdfunding for #siblingsupport |
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Help us to continue and develop our peer support for bereaved siblings by donating to our newest crowdfunding campaign through Global Giving.
Please donate and share the campaign with as many of your friends, family, colleagues - as you can and help us to expand the unique peer support TCF offers to those who have experienced the death of a brother or sister too soon.
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On Wednesday 23rd September, there is a Bonus Day when donations of the equivalent of US$100 will be matched by at least 15% by Global Giving. It is a real chance to maximise the fundraising potential for our work with bereaved siblings. Please encourage as many people as possible to support the campaign
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Annual General Meeting of The Compassionate Friends
Saturday 21 November, 2.- 3.15 pm
Online via Zoom
Join us this year online to hear about the activities of our charity and help us to shape the future of our support and services for bereaved parents and their families. We would love to see you there.
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Could you volunteer as... |
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...a support group facilitator?
Come along and find out more at our ONLINE Training and Information event running over two Saturday mornings on 3 and 10 October 2020.
A TCF support group is a safe, supportive, inclusive and compassionate place where parents or siblings can share with others their grief, strategies for surviving and ways of finding some sort of hope again. Our online training and information mornings are friendly and practical offering lots of ideas and support for running a peer support group. Those already running a TCF group or volunteering in any other capacity may find this online training helpful as a refresher.
Feedback from previous participants:
"The programme offered what I needed to gain confidence and awareness. Each area was covered in a way that was engaging and effective. The handouts are excellent and will be helpful to refer back to. The content is clear, tried and tested, providing a format to follow. The scenarios also provided important food for thought, recognising that facilitating will be challenging as well as rewarding".
"The sessions were well structured and planned and covered the topics needed for setting up a support group. Including discussing self-care and care of participants and things to consider practically. The sessions flowed well and gave time for questions and reflection as well as being highly informative and helpful. I would recommend this training to others who are interested in becoming a bereavement group facilitator or co-facilitator".
To join us you should be a bereaved parent or sibling and we recommend you are ideally at least 3+ years past your own bereavement. Facilitating a support group can be a really rewarding volunteering role - find out more information here.
For more info or to reserve a place by emailing or phone 0345 120 3785 (please leave a message and we will get back to you).
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...a supporter for bereaved parents who cared for a child with disabilities or special needs?
Are you bereaved of a son or daughter who had special needs or disabilities? Could you offer support, understanding and hope to others who have suffered the loss of a child with special needs and/or disabilities?
We are currently looking for volunteers who have been bereaved in the last 10 years (but more than 3+ years), based anywhere in the UK to offer initial peer support and understanding to parents whose child with special needs and/or disabilities has died. This may involve taking calls and answering emails from newly bereaved parents referred to you via our Helpline, as well as helping these parents to access TCF’s range of other support. We hope to form a small support team of at least 3 volunteers to enable support across the UK and so that you as team members will feel supported too.
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...online webchat supporter? |
After a successful pilot, we are looking for volunteers able to commit to one evening a month to offer support via our webchat messaging service.
i f you are * ideally more than 3+ years past your loss * emotionally resilient so you can support others * an empathic, compassionate listener * non-judgmental, respectful of others’ attitudes and beliefs * trustworthy and reliable * computer literate with an ability to type at good speed and can convey empathy and compassion in words... please get in touch with us at helpline@tcf.org.uk
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...a grief companion?
Reaching out to support other newly bereaved parents?
As a grief companion you would be helping a more recently bereaved parent by providing informal support and friendship to them in the early months following the death of their child. This can be such an important way for parents to access peer support and particularly so where there is no face-to-face local support or group in their area.
You may also find that this is a lovely way to honour the memory of your own child, by providing comfort to others. It can be a way to acknowledge the skills and experience you have developed through your grief and help support you in your own journey through loss.
TCF's grief companion scheme began as a pilot project funded by the National Lottery. Many matches have now been made with parents benefiting greatly from this one-to-one, peer support. We are looking for bereaved parents who are at least 3 years on from their own bereavement and who are feeling more ‘resilient’ around their loss.
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Ways you can help to fundraise |
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TCF’s fundraising income is down this year in line with many charities as nearly all fundraising events have been cancelled and people are faced with their own economic challenges. So, if you can, please consider supporting us in any of the ways below. We really would be so grateful for any contribution you can make - small or large. |
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Do you shop in John Lewis and/or Waitrose? If so, please go to the customer services desk in store to complete a Community Matters form on TCF’s behalf. The companies are not using green tokens at the moment. Instead three charities are chosen each quarter who will receive an equal amount at the end of the quarter. In the case of Waitrose, the three charities receive an equal share of £1,000 a quarter, and for John Lewis a share of £3,000. For help completing the form email Stephen.
Shop at AmazonSmile - it's exactly the same as shopping at Amazon with all their usual books and products - and supports TCF at no cost to you.
Sign up to easyfundraising.com and donate every time you shop at over 4000 online stores - it costs you nothing.
If you’re thinking about making your will, please do consider leaving a lasting gift to TCF via legacy. More information here.
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Rosi Reed started to write a regular blog after the loss of her 12 year old son, Nico. Here she considers that question 'Does it get better?' A long reply to a simple question
Andrea Corrie writes a blog titled Multilayered Musing from New Normality: living as a bereaved parent. In a recent post she discusses 'new normality' and the way, post-COVID, the phrase has passed into common usage. Not Changing the Title
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For more information on support and services for bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents see our website at the buttons below. |
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