About Us
When a child’s parent or significant loved one dies, their lives change forever. As well as the sadness they feel, they are often left confused and full of fear and anxiety. Grief Encounter helps families address difficult issues such as death and we help make sense of the hurt and confusion. Above all, we aim to help them find ways out of the abyss of grief.
Grief Encounter offers a flexible and accessible bereavement service which aims to professionally care and respond to the needs of each service user. We aim to support every family with an individual approach.
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Our support is varied and can take the form of anything from a family Fun Day to a one-on-one meeting. Our support can also extend to other family members, school and friends. We run Residential Camps and we have our own Helpline which offers advice and support. Make sure you also have a look at our mentions in the press, as well as the awards we have received over the years.
What We Offer
We aim to provide the following support to bereaved children and their families in a four tiered approach:
Tier 1
Information gathering, via website.
Tier 2
Telephone/email enquiry for further information, Grief Encounter registration and possible signposting.
Tier 3
Family visit/assessment for possible direct contact/work, e.g. coming to meet others, one-to-one counselling, attendance on Residential Camps, ecounselling.
Tier 4
Referrals to outside services, e.g. CAMHS or graduation and helping others through their grief.
Helpline/s
The telephone helpline currently supports 3000 individuals per year and is staffed by people trained to support those suffering bereavement, or those in need of guidance to help a bereaved child or family. We currently offer an email helpline through which we use our professional advisors to answer approximately 3000 enquiries per year.
Family Programme
Families follow the programme for up to two years which includes workshops, one-to-one counselling, family fun days, remembrance days and residential camps.
Specialist resources
Items such as the Grief Relief Kit are provided to all those supported through the programmes. The unique kit developed with young people includes books, memory making materials, comforting toys and other items to facilitate children’s grieving.
E-counselling
Young people suffering from bereavement can get in contact via electronic methods – webcams, text messages, email or live chat.