Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update
With COVID-19 restrictions easing, we are beginning to reintroduce our Bereavement Café event in a face-to-face capacity.
In line with other healthcare providers in England, we will continue to implement protective measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in order to protect our vulnerable patients and staff. This includes asking staff and visitors to continue wearing face coverings, testing regularly and maintaining social distancing when in the Hospice.
If you’d like to visit St Clare Hospice to attend a Bereavement Café, please read more about our current guidance before making your trip. Please visit stclarehospice.org.uk/coronavirus
The Bereavement Café Project…
In early 2019, a team of staff and volunteers from St Clare Hospice embarked on a new project with the aim to support local people who had been bereaved of someone that they knew, or were close to, by connecting individuals and communities together.
Here at St Clare, we feel that some of the most meaningful support you may experience when you have been bereaved, is through connecting with others who have had similar experiences – whether your loss was recent, or a long time ago.
The first Bereavement Café event launched at the Hospice in Hastingwood during February 2019. Over the next year, a number of other weekly and monthly Bereavement Café events started to take place regularly throughout the local community, with more events continuing to develop in response to local demand. In 2020, we launched Bereavement Café online communities, to facilitate a space where local people could connect in a ‘virtual’ capacity through Facebook and online video conferencing service, Zoom.
Please read on to find out more about how you can get involved with your local Bereavement Café.
Come along to a Bereavement Café event in person at St Clare Hospice
Our Bereavement Café events offer a space to meet and connect with other local people who have had similar experiences to our own. It is a safe place to speak openly about our experiences, or simply just meet up for a cup of tea or coffee in the company of others who understand. Anyone who has experienced the loss of someone close to them, no matter how recent or long ago, is welcome to attend a Bereavement Café event. It’s completely free to attend.
Find your local Café
St Clare Hospice, Hastingwood
Every Friday, 2pm – 3.30pm
Old Park Meadow, Great Dunmow
The third Wednesday of the month, 10am – 11.30am (Starting on 15th September)
Potter Street, Harlow
The last Saturday of the month, 10am – 11.30am (Starting on 25th September)
Book your place now, by calling our Bereavement Support Helpline on 01279 967670.
Join your local Bereavement Café online community
Our Bereavement Café online communities aim to connect local, bereaved people together via Facebook and online video conferencing service, Zoom.
The online communities provide a ‘virtual’ space for local people to engage with in a way that best suits your needs. Whether it’s meeting and talking to others, recommending supportive resources that you’ve found useful, sharing your own experiences or simply reading about what others have shared.
Bereavement Café online communities are open for people to engage with as much, or as little, as you would like – it’s OK to just be present.
Anyone who has experienced the loss of someone close to them, no matter how recent or long ago, is welcome to join a Bereavement Café online community. It is completely free to join.
Click on a link below to visit your Bereavement Café Facebook Group:
- Bereavement Café
- Youth Bereavement Café – For young people aged 18-30
Our Bereavement Café Facebook groups are moderated by trained St Clare Hospice Bereavement Café Facilitator volunteers, who aim to encourage a supportive and welcoming space for all participants to benefit from.
Take part in a virtual Bereavement Café meeting via Zoom:
You can also connect with others in a Bereavement Café group video call, which we are hosting via Zoom with the support of a trained St Clare Facilitator. You can use your computer, smart phone or tablet to log in to Zoom – or you can call in via the telephone.
Our virtual Bereavement Café meetings are running on:
- Every Tuesday at 10.30am – 11.30am
- First Wednesday of every month at 7pm – 8pm
- Every Thursday at 11am – 12pm
- Every Thursday at 7pm – 8pm (Until end of August)
If you’d like to put your name down to take part in a Bereavement Café meeting via Zoom, please get in touch with our Bereavement Volunteer Support Services Manager, Fiona Venus.
Call 01279 773703
Email fiona.venus@stclarehospice.org.uk
Youth Bereavement Café (YBC)
Our Youth Bereavement Café (YBC) offers a space for young and bereaved people (aged 18-30) to meet and connect with others who have had similar experiences to their own.
Due to Coronavirus (COVID-19), our Youth Bereavement Café is currently operating solely online, in our YBC Facebook group. However, when it is safe to do so, we have plans to launch the YBC at a venue in Harlow. Further details will be shared in due course.
Click here to visit and join the YBC Facebook group, where you can find more information about its : facebook.com/groups/youthbereavementcafe
For general enquiries about our Bereavement Café project, please contact our Patient & Family Support team on 01279 773762 or email bereavement@stclarehospice.org.uk
