Sue Ryder is reaching out with online grief counselling

Hospice care provider Sue Ryder has re-launched its website to shine a light on its host of support resources for the bereaved.

The charity, which provides palliative and neurological care to people with a terminal or life-limiting illness, aims to raise greater awareness of the bereavement support it provides to anyone who has lost a loved one.

It is currently piloting online video counselling sessions for people coping with loss. The one-on-one support, provided by qualified grief therapists and counsellors, is open for people who join the charity’s online bereavement community to book.

The grief forum was launched in 2015 as a space for anyone to join and share experiences, ask questions, air emotional issues and address practical problems with sympathetic others, after the death of a loved one.

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Lizzie Proctor, director of one of the charity’s 11 UK care centres, Manorlands in West Yorkshire, has described Sue Ryder’s live video-chat as a valuable new support for the bereaved.

She said: “We can reach more people and give them a place where they can speak face to face with someone in a space where they feel safe and comfortable, in their own home.

“As our online community has grown, it’s become clear there’s a real need for people to have a space to share experiences and feelings, to vent, to support each other and to call for help.”

Sue Ryder has also been campaigning to open up conversations around death, to help people feel more informed about what to expect.

#FacingLossTogether. Picture:SueRyder.org

Earlier in 2018, it launched #FacingLossTogether which aims to help people to feel more confident about how to talk to someone who’s dying and less afraid of the physical transitions that occur when someone reaches the final stages of their life.

Lizzie said: “We do not talk enough about dying and death in our culture; it’s something we tend to ignore. So it’s no wonder that when the inevitable happens and someone we care for dies, many of us struggle and feel entirely alone.”

Sue Ryder’s new-look website is a part of the charity’s ongoing five year plan to raise greater awareness of its breadth of support, as well as extend its reach to help more people in the UK.

It also aims to increase awareness of the care choices that patients have towards the end of their lives and influence national policy over how end-of-life and bereavement care is improved and delivered.

It has introduced the words “bereavement support” to its brand identity, to highlight how its support extends beyond palliative patient care, to help grieving families and individuals.

The charity’s chief executive, Heidi Travis, said: “At Sue Ryder we already provide great care in our hospices, neurological care centres and out in the community, and our ambition is that we’ll provide more care to more people by 2023.”

• Find out how Sue Ryder can support you or a member of your family, at www.sueryder.org. The video counselling service currently being piloted is available to book by people who sign up to the Sue Ryder bereavement community. You can discover more about the online forum and become a member, here. .