About us
About Us
The Southern Highlands Bereavement Care Service offers counselling support and education to those experiencing loss, grief and bereavement through: • The death of a loved one
• Separation and divorce
• Serious illness
• Significant life changes and transitions
• Separation and divorce
• Serious illness
• Significant life changes and transitions
Bereavement and Grief Counselling
Grief is a normal response to the loss of someone or something special, significant and meaningful in our life. Bereavement is the period after a loss which grief is experienced and mourning occurs. Your grief experience is unique to you. It can feel intensely painful, confusing, overwhelming, numbing, frightening and lonely.
Many clients express that they feel isolated in their bereavement, unwilling to burden family and friends with their sadness. The death of someone you love can throw your world upside down, searching for answers, caught up in a complexity of feelings, practicalities and emotions that can seem overwhelming, making daily life almost unbearable.
Our aim is to offer our clients a sense of relief from this burden, offering information and education, tips and strategies, non-judgemental listening and professional compassionate counselling, in a safe and confidential setting.
It can really help to talk with someone who can truly listen and validate your experience, giving you the opportunity to gain insights, identify resources, social supports, and develop an ability to access your own internal strengths. Over time, this will assist you to integrate and process your loss, practically and emotionally.
Education and Training
Workshops in understanding loss, grief and bereavement are offered to organisations and community groups. These workshops can be particularly useful for staff working in health, disability and aged care. Other organisations may also benefit from understanding how best to support their staff who may be experiencing grief.
Seasons for Growth Workshops
These 30 – 40 minute workshops are specially designed to introduce children and young people to life transitions and change in a fun and interactive way. The sessions run over 8 weeks using the seasons (Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer) to gradually build knowledge and resilience for children dealing with loss and grief through the normal transitions of life. The workshops are for small groups of primary and secondary students and can be delivered in schools, community and sporting groups. www.goodgrief.org.au .
Please enquire via the CONTACT
page.
Critical Incident Stress Debriefing
This is a form of small group “psychological first aid” that promotes resiliency and recovery for staff who have been exposed to a traumatic incident or death in the workplace. CISD provides a bridge from the traumatic event to hope, healing and recovery by giving people a voice, offering closure and restoring a sense of security and overall well-being. It is recommended that the debriefing occur between within 24 to 72 hours post event, however there is evidence to suggest that receiving debriefing later after the event can still be beneficial.
Family Counselling and Support Groups
Group therapy is a very different focus than individual therapy. It provides a space to share with others who are also experiencing similar or different losses. It can be a relief to know that someone else is experiencing similar overwhelming emotions in their journey through loss.
Counsellor facilitated support groups are at times offered by the Service. Groups in the past have included: Young widows group; Bereaved parents group; Bereavement walking group; Suicide bereavement support group.
Please check our NEWS & INFO
page for upcoming groups.
Children, Teenagers and Young Adults
The grief of young people can sometimes be overlooked and misinterpreted. Young people grieve just like everyone else yet they can sometimes hide their grief or show it in ways that are difficult for adults to understand.
In response to this, The Southern Highlands Bereavement Care Service has published a booklet for young people aged 12 to 25 titled: “I Can do it but it’s Still Hard”. The booklet is available to read on our website and can be purchased in hard copy.
Please visit the YOUTH BOOKLET page for more information.
Non-Profit Organisation
The Southern Highlands Bereavement Care Service is a non-government, non-profit organisation which receives funding from the NSW Ministry of Health (SWSLHD).
The Service was established in 1990 specifically to provide bereavement support to all members of the Wingecarribee and Wollondilly shires.
The Service is governed by a dedicated local Management Committee who generously volunteer their time, experience and expertise to overseeing and supporting our staff. The management team meet regularly with staff to discuss service delivery and ensure the smooth running of the organisation.
We welcome your support and donations to keep our Service running and providing specialised bereavement counselling and education in our community.
Please visit our DONATE
page for more details.
Community Projects and Support
We are grateful for the past support from our local community Rotary and Lions clubs, the Wingecarribee Community Assistance Scheme and ClubsGrant. These donations and grants have enabled us to develop special projects to benefit our clients in the community such as:
- The establishment of a lending and resource library
- The development and printing of the 1st and 2nd edition of our Youth Grief Booklet
- Establishment of our Bereavement Walking group and Suicide Bereavement support group.
- Website development to enable digital access to our Youth Grief Booklet
- Grief and loss resource packs for clients