Family Support Team

The Family Support Team provides care and information for patients and their loved ones to help ensure everyone’s needs are considered and supported. The team offers emotional and spiritual support during the period of illness and following bereavement.

Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care

Our chaplaincy team is part of the professional team involved in your support and care through the hospice. Illness often prompts us to think about our hopes and fears and to try to come to terms with major changes in our lives.

Our chaplain leads a small team of volunteers from different backgrounds. We are glad to offer spiritual and emotional care alongside or separate from religious care. We will support you, whatever your beliefs are. The chapel/quiet room contains symbols and items from different faiths and approaches to spirituality; a candle bowl is available if you would like to light a candle, as is the hope tree for your messages and prayers. There are times for people to gather in the chapel for reflection during the week; this option is available to everyone.

The support we offer is varied; it includes simply being a listening ear, helping with prayer, laying on of hands, or assisting with the preparations for and conducting of funerals, Holy Communion, weddings, blessings of relationships, baptisms or confirmations. Our team can link in with your local faith community, too.

Please speak to a member of the Family Support Team if you feel our chaplaincy services could be of use to you. Our chaplaincy team will not impose our personal faith on you; we will meet you where you are with the concerns you face at this difficult time.

Bereavement and Emotional Support

We offer bereavement support to family members and friends both before and after a death. There’s no time limit on the support we offer. Whilst everyone grieves differently, there are a number of recognised reactions to bereavement that can feel overwhelming. Our bereavement team is here to offer emotional support and guidance. Your family and those important to you can be seen together or individually.

In addition to face-to-face support, we also have a booklet about bereavement called ‘When someone dies’ that you might find useful. This booklet covers practical matters, such as making funeral arrangements and sorting out your loved one’s affairs, as well as information about the emotional support we offer.

Emotional Support for Children

We also offer support specifically for children, both before and after a death. A member of our team can meet with the child at home, in their school or in a child-friendly room located within the hospice that’s been designed with children in mind.

Creative play and stories are often useful to help them explore difficult feelings. We also have story books and literature available to help and advise parents and caregivers.

If you feel we can help, please do not hesitate to contact our counsellor so they can arrange a session for you with one of the team. We are also happy to link with your child’s school counsellor to ensure the child receives support at school as well.

Companions

Our companions offer you the opportunity to chat with someone impartial who will listen or just simply be there as a comforting presence. They are there to provide valuable support to you at a time when you may feel distanced from family and friends, especially if they live far away and find it difficult to visit often.

Who are the companions?

Our companions are all volunteers who have completed a comprehensive training programme at the hospice. Their training includes improving listening skills, developing an awareness of how illness affects everyone in different ways and learning how to best advise on the different hospice support that’s available.

How can the companions help?

If you feel that you need to speak to someone, our hospice companions offer time on a regular basis to visit and listen.

Hospice companions can visit as a one-off, or they can arrange a time convenient to you both. They can also support those closest to you by offering help and guidance, as well as allowing them time to take care of other tasks or errands.

How will I be referred?

Please call the Hospice on 01934 423 900 for more information.

‘My [companion] brings the world into my home; it really makes a difference to my week.’