We use cookies to give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we’ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on this website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time. x

Bereavement Support

Sometimes it is very difficult to cope with the feelings arising after a death. The time just after a funeral can be particularly challenging as everything and most people around you settle back into ‘normal’ life while your world has turned upside down.

Grieving is a perfectly natural process and can take many different forms.  With the right support from family, work colleagues and friends we can emerge from it and start to enjoy our lives again without ever forgetting the person who has died.

You may struggle to cope with the depth of your grief and the intensity of your feelings. Meeting in a support group with others who have been bereaved can help you to acknowledge what is happening and believe that you can begin to heal and rebuild your life.

We have many resources in the office that may be able to help point you in the right direction to bereavement services or organisations that offer help. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you would like to take a look. 

Bereavement support

Shrivenham Bereavement Group

Rose-Anne O'Hare (bereavement counsellor and former NHS therapist) and Norma Fergusson (vicar and former hospice worker) met in 2017 to run a bereavement couse. We then decided to establish some support for people who had been bereaved and began with a therapeutic group in 2018. The group runs when they have sufficient participants. It happens in Shrivenham, is free and is open to everyone.

We currently host a Bereavement Cafe, also in Shrivenham, which meets on the last Tuesday of each month.

We hope to help in the following ways:

  • Offer a space that is confidential, safe and informal.
  • Provide somewhere that you can meet others who are experiencing similar feelings and reactions.
  • To let you know you are not alone.
  • To support you and talk about ways to cope.
  • You may feel you are odd/going crazy/ acting weirdly/ being embarrassing ... But you have been through something terrible and grief is a frightening, highly individual and unpredictable journey without a map or rules. Everyone reacts in their own way. We aim to help you realise that whatever you feel is just part of finding your own path to restoring and rebuilding your life.
  • To help you discover hope in the future and that things will change.

You can contact us to discuss the café or the group or book a place –

Rose-Anne  01793 784017  roseanne.o@outlook.com

Norma  01793 784338  rev.n.fergusson@btinternet.com

Bereavement support

Professional Support

Sometimes the nature of the death or our personal circumstances makes recovering very difficult to manage without professional support.

At times like this a counsellor/therapist can also be a very useful step.  You can sometimes get a referral for support through your GP. Sometimes people decide to seek private sessions. The counsellors named below are all known to us, local and very experienced.

Rose-Anne O'Hare – Grief Counselling Services
roseanne.o@outlook.com  Tel: 01793 784017

Unicorn Child Therapy Services
www.unicornchildtherapyservices.co.uk
Tel: 01793 762939 ;

Helen Redington: hc.redington@googlemail.com
Susan Turner: susankiloranturner@googlemail.com  Tel: 07800 602655

Cruse Bereavement Support - Tel: 0808 808 1677
Website - www.cruse.org.uk

Three local county-based charities working with bereaved children and young people

SeeSaw - Grief support for children and young people in Oxfordshire  
www.seesaw.org.uk
Email: info@seesaw.org.uk   
Phone: 01865 744768  

Treehouse Wiltshire Bereavement support for children and young people in Wiltshire www.treehousewiltshire.org.uk
Email: admin@wiltshiretreehouse.org.uk 
Phone: 0800 02 888 40

Winston’s Wish Gloucestershire Supporting Bereaved Children and their families
www.winstonswish.org 
Email:  ask@winstonswish.org
Phone: 01242 515157

There are two National Charities working with Bereavement Support for  children and young people

Winston’s Wish Supporting Bereaved Children and their families
www.winstonswish.org 
Email:  ask@winstonswish.org
Phone: 08088 020 021

Child Bereavement UK
www.childbereavementuk.org
Email: helpline@childbereavementuk.org 
Phone: 0800 02 888 40

 

We are also ready to have a chat and have the kettle on, if that may feel useful too. 

 

 

 

Bereavement support

“From the moment we set foot at Westmill, the healing began. The care and compassion Liz took with all aspects of planning my husband’s burial and the service provided on the day (and since) was perfect”