Carer support
If you are a carer, relative, or friend of a patient, you can contact the Patient & Family Support team to receive advice, support or therapies.
Many parents and adults find death a difficult subject to explain to children. What often helps children is the opportunity to say goodbye, and this is difficult if they have been unable to visit their loved one when they were ill, or even attend their funeral.
Children may be left with many uncertainties, fears and difficult issues to cope with and often find these very hard to talk about, especially to another close family member or friend. Often, not acknowledging children are involved and what is going on, is a common way families struggle to cope, but it is important that they have the opportunity to say goodbye too.
We know that dealing with intense emotions like illness, death and bereavement, can be difficult for teenagers and young people. Working through feelings may seem to be a slower process, so we have produced a short video which helps to explain the development of the adolescent brain.
Little Rays is a closed group for primary school aged children, who have experienced the death of a parent/step-parent, guardian or grandparent, due to a terminal illness.
This group runs as an after-school activity, weekly, three times a year for a block of six weeks. The children are supported and guided through a range of activities aimed at helping them explore feelings, emotions, and thoughts around the loss of a loved one, and provide them with 'coping strategies' to take away with them. The sessions will include art and craft based therapeutic activities. Children will be in a closed small group with other bereaved children supported by a trained counsellor and adult volunteers.
For more information, please contact Maria Abellan on 01252 729430 or pafs@pth.org.uk
If you would like to discuss any issues about talking to children and young people about death and dying, our dedicated Child and Family Support team of counsellors and psychologists can help. We will work with parents and guardians alike, helping you to understand your own fears and prepare you to support the child/young person in your care.
For more information on the areas where we can help you, please read our Because you're important too booklet, or contact the Patient & Family Support team on 01252 729430 or email caf@pth.org.uk
If you are a carer, relative, or friend of a patient, you can contact the Patient & Family Support team to receive advice, support or therapies.
Whether you're a patient of Phyllis Tuckwell or a carer or relative, talking to a counsellor or clinical psychologist could help make sense of any worries you may have.
All of our staff and volunteers are involved in the pastoral care of our patients, relatives and carers, but there is also a dedicated team of staff and volunteers, led by Jill Thornton, whose specific role it is to support our pastoral care ethos.
All our services are free, but this is only possible due to the generosity of our amazing community. The Government/NHS only provide 25% of our costs, so we need to raise over £25,000 every day to provide our vital services.
Please donate what you can to help keep hospice care available to all those in our community who need us.
