Supporting bereaved parents and siblings
One of the most difficult tasks facing any GP is assisting a distraught parent who is seeking help following the death of a child.
There is a unique organisation called The Compassionate Friends (TCF) which can offer support to you or your patient. TCF was established in 1978 by bereaved parents to offer compassionate understanding and support to any parent, brother or sister, or grandparent following the death of a son or daughter.
TCF commissioned a study, funded by the William Buckland Foundation, to measure the economic cost and social impact on families. The findings and recommendations of the two year study, “Beyond the Death of a Child: Social Impact and Economic Costs Following the Death of a Child” was released in August 2007. Before then, no systematic Australian research had been carried out that validates the bereaved families’ anecdotal experiences.
A quote from the Foreword of the Research Report, by Dr Dennis Klass, Professor Emeritus, Webster University, USA, author of Spiritual Lives of Bereaved Parents, Parental Grief Solace and Resolution and Continuing Bonds: New Understandings of Grief:
“Beyond the Death of a Child is groundbreaking. The study expands our understanding of the effects of a child’s death well beyond the scope of the previous scholarly and clinical literature about bereaved parents and their families…presents the full impact of a child’s death on the parent’s whole world. I know of no study that comes even close to this one in its scope or is as pointed in its findings.”
TCF provides a range of support services to bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents. Mutual support services are based on a holistic view of mental health that recognises the importance of sharing the knowledge gained by people who have experienced the impact of grief in their lives with those who are facing the same challenges. This forms the basis of the information, support and education delivered by specifically trained TCF volunteers who are themselves bereaved parents or siblings.
A voluntary Board of Management, all of whom are bereaved parents or siblings, governs TCF. In addition the organisation depends on the work of at least 100 volunteers who contribute an average of 6,000 hours per year to every aspect of TCF work. This incudes one on one support, telephone support, and support group facilitation, production of a bi-monthly Magazine, and contribution towards the governance and running of the Organisation. TCF employs 5 part time staff consisting of a CEO, two Volunteer Coordinators, a Community Education and Service Coordinator and a Administration and Accounts Officer.
Please contact Fiona Heylan, Community Education and Services Coordinator, The Compassionate Friends on 0408 110 009, 9888 4034 or fionah@compassionatefriendsvictoria.org.au, to organise fee free training for the staff at your clinic.
