Bereavement support can be provided in a group setting, online or on a one to one basis.
Group support can be beneficial to help you understand you are not alone and allow you to meet others in similar circumstances, providing peer support.
Facilitated groups are usually run by a trained bereavement counsellor or volunteer.
Social groups are more informal and are not facilitated by an expert.
For one to one support click here
Adult facilitated groups
Age Well East
We advise and provide practical information, connecting communities to tackle loneliness and encourage mental and physical wellness. We offer support to people in later years experiencing emotional challenges, such as caring for someone at the end of their life or living through bereavement, and we support people and their carers through a dementia diagnosis.
Our groups are a confidential space to meet others who are grieving. Attending our groups can: Help you understand you are not alone by meeting others in similar circumstances. Be a place to make connections with others. To speak openly in a closed group, sharing experiences with others.
Phone: 0300 373 3333
St Helena bereavement support
We offer bereavement support to all those who have been bereaved in north and mid Essex, regardless of the cause of death or when or where the individual has died.
We offer bereavement support groups designed to provide support, information and coping strategies for people who are adjusting to living with grief. We also offer therapeutic counsellor-led groups for support after bereavement by suicide, stillbirth and neo-natal death, or the death of a child. Our groups are welcoming and run by experienced staff and volunteers.
Phone: 01206 984 274
Support After Murder and Manslaughter
SAMM provides a wide range of peer support services to people bereaved by murder and manslaughter. There is no time limit on becoming a member. Our services are open to everyone regardless of how long ago they were bereaved. We support close relatives, family members., friends etc.
Our unique support services have been designed by the bereaved for the bereaved. All volunteers receive bespoke training and have been bereaved through homicide themselves. They have a unique understanding of what it’s like to be traumatically bereaved.
We offer a bespoke combination of peer support, workshops and complementary therapies over 3 days. Designed for the bereaved by the bereaved, it takes place in the calm and serene setting of a beautiful retreat centre. It facilitates a bereaved person’s recovery journey at a pace that is right for them.
Phone: 0121 472 2912 Mobile: 07342 888570
Email: [email protected]
Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide
We are the only UK-based organisation offering peer-led support to adults impacted by suicide loss. We help individuals support each other, at the time of their loss and in the months and years that follow. We aim to provide safe, confidential environments where people can share their experiences and feelings, giving and gaining support from each other.
Our groups are run by volunteers, many of who have lived experience of bereavement by suicide personally. We have over seventy groups meeting across the country and every one of them is unique because they grow and develop according to the needs and aspirations of those who use them.
Phone: 0300 111 5065
Email: [email protected]
Child Bereavement UK
Child Bereavement UK helps families to rebuild their lives when a child grieves or when a child dies. We support children and young people (up to the age of 25) when someone important to them has died or is not expected to live, and parents and the wider family when a baby or child of any age dies or is dying.
We offer free, confidential bereavement support for individuals, couples, children, young people, and families, by telephone, video or instant messenger, wherever you live in the UK.
Phone: 0800 02 888 40
Email: [email protected]
Adult social groups
Support After Murder and Manslaughter
SAMM provides a wide range of peer support services to people bereaved by murder and manslaughter. There is no time limit on becoming a member. Our services are open to everyone regardless of how long ago they were bereaved. We support close relatives, family members., friends etc.
Our unique support services have been designed by the bereaved for the bereaved. All volunteers receive bespoke training and have been bereaved through homicide themselves. They have a unique understanding of what it’s like to be traumatically bereaved.
The Pop-up Cafes give people a chance to talk to others with similar challenges. We understand the importance of bringing people together with similar influences to help with their grief journey. The groups take place in the evening and we have separate groups for men and women.
Phone: 0121 472 2912 Mobile: 07342 888570
Email: [email protected]
Age Well East
We advise and provide practical information, connecting communities to tackle loneliness and encourage mental and physical wellness. We offer support to people in later years experiencing emotional challenges, such as caring for someone at the end of their life or living through bereavement, and we support people and their carers through a dementia diagnosis.
We run local groups and activities across NE Essex, to help people connect with others. We offer expert advice about bereavement and loss, online and in-person support groups for those also experiencing loss. We also run social groups for people to meet like mind individuals and form new friendships.
Phone: 0300 373 3333
Online groups
Facing the Future
Facing the Future support groups give our participants the opportunity to meet others (on Zoom) who have lost someone to suicide, and to share their experiences and feelings. Each support group is run by two specially-trained volunteers with previous experience in their parent organisation. The emphasis is on peer-to-peer support by the participants; the facilitators do not set an agenda, do not offer advice and do not provide counselling.
The closed online groups meet at the same time each week over six consecutive weeks (with different groups starting on different days of the week/different times of the day), and each session lasts for 90 minutes. There are around eight participants in each group and sessions are free of charge. Register to attend at the website.
Blossome
Providing community and selfcare activities for all affected by a loved one’s alcoholism or addiction
Blossome offers private facebook group, self care activities and resources.
Funeral support groups
Coffin Club Colchester
Coffin Club Colchester (CCC) helps people to reclaim a participatory relationship with death. We run free 6-week courses, open to all, in the Spring (culminates in ‘Dying Matters Awareness Week’) and Autumn (culminates in Mexican Day of the Dead) helping people to understand their choices/options for low-cost funeral planning.
We are the first Coffin Club in Essex! Following training by ‘Down to Earth’ who run the only funeral poverty helpline in the UK, CCC are able to offer 1:1 (non-financial) support to individuals/families struggling to pay for a loved one’s funeral with the sole purpose of avoidance of funeral poverty.
Coffin Club Colchester is able to support and advise individuals or families considering a family-run or DIY funeral service for their loved one. We can provide low carbon footprint/eco-friendly (flat packed) coffins for decorating and can liaise with our trusted funeral providers for any bespoke services e.g. storage, transport etc.
Coffin Club Colchester is for the elderly, terminally ill and their carer’s or anyone interested in working through their funeral wish-list and/or assembling/personalising their own coffin (optional) https://coffinclubcolchester.co.uk/contact/
We can provide 1:1 (non-financial) support to individuals struggling to pay for a loved one’s funeral who are in or at risk of funeral poverty.
Phone: 07840 117242
Email: [email protected]
LIBITINA CIC
LIBITINA is a cross between a Coffin Club, a Death Cafe and a Bereavement group – funded by charities Colchester Catalyst and Independent Age, we aim to open up the ‘taboo’ subject of death, dying, bereavement and end of life planning through conversation whilst making something creative.
One of our main aims is to alleviate funeral poverty. Our FREE events include a creative project, a whistle stop tour of options available for a personalised funeral and a Q & A session with a lawyer who specialises in End-of-Life Admin. so come armed with your questions and we’ll give you the answers!
Having completed ‘After the Last Breath’ training run by charity ‘Pushing up the Daisies’, we’re able to support bereaved families to care for their loved one at home until they’re ready to release them into the care of a funeral provider or take them to their Celebration of Life service/burial.
Whether you are the carer/partner/family member of a terminally ill loved one, have experienced recent loss or are still navigating the grieving process, our LIBITINA events offer a supportive environment where questions around personalised funerals, End-of-Life Admin. and bereavement support organisations can be answered whilst creating a memory or legacy.
Phone: 07582 144632
Email: [email protected]