St Elizabeth Hospice in Ipswich provides emotional support and advice, useful leaflets and booklets, the 565 Service which provides emotional support for children, young people and families living with a family member with progressive illness, and a link to GriefChat – a third party service where you can talk directly with a specially trained bereavement counsellor:
- stelizabethhospice.org.uk – Bereavement support
- stelizabethhospice.org.uk – 565 Service
- Emotional Wellbeing Enquiry Line Tel: 01473 707999
- OneCall – 24hour advice from their hospice team Tel: 0800 567 0111
LivingGrief is the St Elizabeth Hospice bereavement service, co-ordinating bereavement support for East Suffolk.
The LivingGrief bereavement and emotional wellbeing enquiry line, 0300 303 5196 (open Mon-Fri, 9am-4pm), is available to anyone affected by grief.
LivingGrief specialises in bereavement from life-limiting, long term illnesses and COVID-19 bereavement. Services are open to anyone in East Suffolk, even if you haven’t had contact with the hospice before.
The LivingGrief Hub has up-to-date information on local group support, mental health resources, as well as signposting to help if you have suffered a bereavement from:
- Loss of a baby
- Unexpected death of a child
- Unexpected death of an adult
- Suicide
- Cancer
- Long term or life-limiting illness
- COVID-19
Head to the LivingGrief Hub here: https://www.livinggriefeastsuffolk.co.uk/
East Suffolk and North East Essex Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) provides bereavement services at both the Ipswich and Colchester hospitals:
- esneft.nhs.uk – Bereavement services
- Ipswich Hospital bereavement team Tel: 01473 704 498
- • Colchester Hospital bereavement team Tel: 01206 744 245
Suffolk County Council provides information to help you stay social, active and independent by finding groups, clubs, activities and services in your local community:
Suffolk InfoLink is an online directory of community information created by Suffolk County Council. It provides a platform for local clubs, societies, community and voluntary organisations, and public service providers to inform local communities about the support they offer.
You can share contact details of any of the directory entries with someone else by entering their mobile phone number and clicking ‘Send SMS’. The Short Message Service will send the contact details to their phone immediately.
We have listed links below to some of the bereavement support available on the directory, but encourage you to explore it further to find additional support that may help you to adjust to life after your loss:
- infolink.suffolk.gov.uk – More bereavement and social support groups
- infolink.suffolk.gov.uk – Co-op Bereavement Support Groups in Woodbridge, Hadleigh, Stowmarket, Leiston, Ipswich & Felixstowe.
- infolink.suffolk.gov.uk – Cruse Bereavement Care A voluntary organisation that is non-religious and non-political. They offer free bereavement support to adults and specialist support to children and young people. Bereaved people can self-refer.
- infolink.suffolk.gov.uk – Children and bereavement provides information that could help if your child has lost a loved one or if a loved one is dying.
- infolink.suffolk.gov.uk – loneliness, befriending and social support groups
The Faith and Spirituality Network (Suffolk) is a small unincorporated charity set up to bridge the gap between those who describe themselves as religious and may belong to a faith community, and those who see themselves as having a spiritual dimension to their lives, whether or not they adhere to a particular religious tradition. Their website has information about support systems for bereavements and funerals within faith communities in Suffolk: