Patient, family and carer support

Our team, offer emotional support to you and your family, including children, helping you cope better with your situation and feel more prepared.

Post- bereavement, we continue to support your family, giving you the opportunity to share feelings and talk about your loss

Family support can be given at the hospice, at home or, for children and young people, at school. You can access it either through one-to-on sessions or by attending on of our support groups

• Grief Group: A six-session programme for adults, followed by monthly drop-in gatherings for continued support.
• Dads Cry Too (DC2): A monthly group specifically for fathers who have lost a child, offering a compassionate space to connect with others.
• MUM (Mums Understanding Mums): A group for mothers grieving the loss of a child of any age
• Sparklers: A monthly support group for children aged 5 to 18, offering a safe, creative space to explore feelings, share memories, and connect through activities and play.

Our Chaplin leads a multi-faith spiritual care volunteer team, who are there to offer prayer and support to families and their loved ones.

Music and art therapy can help to express feelings and communicate issues that may be difficult or confusing, or are hard to put into words

Working with a fully trained therapist these therapies can help to:

• Think about loss
• Explore experiences and change
• Be creative
• Improve your ability to cope
• Increase feeling of wellbeing

You don’t need to play and instrument or be good at art to take part

We can offer family members directly involved in a patients care a range of physical therapies including massage, aromatherapy, reflexology and reiki. We also offer non-physical support through mindfulness training and relaxation techniques.

All support is tailored to your needs following an assessment and is provide by a team of registered therapists.

Our specialist palliative care social work team is made up of children’s and adults social workers and social work assistants, specialising in the psychosocial aspects of palliative and end of life care. Our team can offer a wide variety of support to both the person directly affected by a life limiting condition, and those who are important to them. We do this by providing a wide range of emotional and practical support as part of the wider multi-disciplinary team.

We will help you to navigate the various services and practicalities of what you need, whilst supporting you emotionally. We will seek to understand, and advocate for what is important to you, and how this impacts the type of care that you need.

Some of the support we offer:

• Advocacy
• Patient and carer social groups and events
• Carers support including 1-1 and groups
• Sourcing care and practical support at home, including discharge planning
• Advice and support around finance / employment / benefits and housing
• Direct work around memory making, including Stories for Life
• Applying for grants / memory making wishes and events
• Liaison with and supporting you to access and navigate external services including local authority social services and care providers
• Working with schools and employers
• Direct work around advance care planning including advice around lasting power of attorney, deputyship, Will writing and information regarding funerals and after death processes
• Leading on safeguarding and welfare issues including mental capacity and Liberty protection safeguards.

Compassionate Neighbours are a network of people who offer their time, companionship, and support to people living in their local area. Compassionate Neighbours help others by:

• Offering companionship, emotional and practical support and a listening ear
• Helping you to stay connected to your friends and the community
• Directing you to important support services

Find out more