Welcome to Bereft Bereavement Support

Bereft Bereavement Support was set up in 1999 to fill the need for specialist bereavement counselling and support for the adult residents (the over 16s) of the London Borough of Ealing.

The Bereft office will be closed throughout the Easter Bank Holiday period – from Friday 10th April until Monday 13th April. Please be assured that if you leave a message (via phone or email) during this time one of the team will get back to you as soon as possible when the office re-opens.

If you urgently need to talk to someone Samaritans offer support 24 hours a day. The number to call is 116123 or email jo@samaritans.org

Learn More

Message from Bereft to our current and prospective service-users during the current Covid-19 situation

Please be aware that during these unprecedented and unpredictable times, we are doing everything possible to continue delivery of bereavement counselling support, while having regard to the health risks to our service-users and our bereavement counsellors.

For the time being all face to face counselling with Bereft has been suspended and current service-users have been contacted to discuss alternative options.

When prospective service-users contact the Bereft office to enquire about bereavement counselling a member of the team will discuss options for alternative ways of delivering secure and confidential counselling, such as by phone, WhatsApp, Skype etc.

If you do not feel comfortable with these options we will, of course, be happy to keep you on the waiting list until such a time as it is deemed appropriate to return to more traditional face to face counselling sessions.

We are aware that this is a distressing time for you – possibly made more so by Covid-19, so please let us know if you wish to discuss any concerns or queries you may have.

Meanwhile, we are following up-to-date guidance from NHS England, Public Health England and the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy and so will be keeping you informed accordingly on this website.

Stay well

Bereft Management
26th March, 2020

How can we help?

Coping with bereavement

Bereavement is the sense of grief and loss you experience when someone close to you dies. When this happens, you go through a process of mourning: numbness, anger and sadness are all feelings you may experience. Working through your grief can be a painful process, but it is often necessary to ensure your emotional and physical wellbeing later.

Your session

Bereavement counselling can help you to explore your feelings and come to terms with your grief by talking one to one with a trained counsellor. You will have a number of sessions with your counsellor spread over weeks or months, until you are ready to stop. During these sessions you can talk about how you feel and your counsellor will listen and comment, rather than giving you advice.

SUPPORTING YOU

Our counsellors are volunteers, trained in counselling skills and bereavement issues. They are either qualified or nearing completion of their training. Many receive ongoing, extensive training to develop their skills and are committed to working to the highest possible standards. Often they are registered with a professional organisation and all are working to established codes of practice.

Supporting Bereft

Bereft is a registered charity. To ensure the continuation of the Bereft service, we ask for a donation at each session according to what each client can afford. We are also very grateful to other donors who support us. Donations will be applied to our general charitable services.

I had nowhere else to turn. Bereft helped me all the way through when the hospital, doctors, family and friends fell away over the months
I found the sessions very helpful. The counsellor did great work, really helping me to explore my concerns, emotions and thoughts. Very comforting at a time of great sadness.
My Bereft counsellor was excellent. She has a most insightful and empathic manner and she helped me enormously through my grief
I found my counsellor very sympathetic and easy to talk to.
I would have been lost without Bereft. They helped to put me back together at a time when I felt utterly lost and broken. I will never forget my sessions with my (Bereft) counsellor. I learnt so much about myself. I will be eternally grateful for the support received – words aren’t enough!