Bereavement training courses launched
Local bereavement charity Jigsaw (South East) rolls out a new half-day course aimed at professionals who work with children and young people.Since 2006, Jigsaw (South East) in East Grinstead has provided support and advice to children and young people who have suffered the loss of a loved one.
Through its six-week Grief Support Groups, one-to-one support with individuals and work in schools across Surrey, the charity has helped hundreds, if not thousands, of children come to terms with their loss and find ways of coping with their feelings.
Now, facing record levels of requests for support for bereaved children – particularly through schools – the charity has launched its first bereavement training course to professionals who work across healthcare, social care and education.
The first course – An ‘Introduction to Working with Bereaved Children and Young People’ – takes place at 12:30 to 5:00pm on Monday 18th March 2013 at Leatherhead’s Food Research Centre.
Carol Bason, Service Manager, Jigsaw (South East) said:
“We have seen a significant upturn in the number of enquiries we receive from professionals asking for guidance on supporting children they are seeing who have suffered a bereavement.”
“We have run several private courses in the past at the request of individual organisations and decided to investigate the viability of running dedicated bereavement training days for professionals who work in healthcare, social care or education. The response has been great – we are already almost sold out and plan to continue running courses to meet demand. Our approach is very flexible – we simply want to reach out to all those who are struggling to come to terms with the death of a loved one.”
The course, which costs £45 per person and includes light refreshments, aims to increase attendees’ knowledge of bereavement and child development theory; increase their confidence in talking and listening to bereaved children and young people as well as increase their understanding of how to relate to bereaved children and young people.
