A CHARITY is recruiting more volunteers to undergo training and join the team that help people deal with the death of a loved one.
Winchester Bereavement Support (WBS) is looking ahead to its next training course and recruiting more bereavement visitors to take part to meet the demand of the service. WBS has been supporting bereaved people in and around Winchester for 40 years, with free face-to-face visits, emails and phone calls to the client’s preference.
As well as DBS checks and having a supervisor, all Bereavement Visitors undergo comprehensive training, to best support its clients. Courses are run approximately every two years, with the next one taking place on Monday evenings from October 2022 to January 2023 in central Winchester.
READ MORE: Local charity, Winchester Bereavement Support, celebrate 40th anniversary
The course has been designed by experienced trainers who have been volunteering with the charity for a long time. Many of the current bereavement visitors have dealt with traumatic losses themselves and use their experience to relate to others.
The voluntary organisation is now looking for people who are empathetic, have good listening skills and few hours to spare each month.
The charity’s mission statement reads: “To meet a client’s need in terms of the acceptance of grief, to recall the dead with sadness rather than pain and to regain an interest in life.”
One client said: “I’m not sure it will be quite possible to adequately put into words just how much the Bereavement Visitor helped me in talking through the grieving process. They helped me build a resilience I didn’t think possible.”
Bereavement visitors who trained on the most recent course have commented on their experience.
Tessa said: “A very good, interactive and informative course. Friendly, encouraging and well presented. An excellent preparation for becoming a visitor.”
Judith said: “A fascinating course, extremely well run with plenty of variety in both the topics and the teaching methods.”
Ann said: “I enjoyed the course and thought it was excellent. I feel well prepared for bereavement visiting.”
On completion of training, new bereavement visitors will be supported by a supervisor, who is a qualified counsellor and a volunteer within the charity. Training events and talks are organised as well as a regular social group where visitors can get together.
As voluntary organisation, funds raised towards the charity will help subsidise the course for people interested in becoming a bereavement visitor. Committee member Rosemarie Humpage said: "We are celebrating our 40th year this year and we hope to be here for many years to come. Every two years we run a training course and we are hoping that this year we will attract enough people to make it it viable."
The next course will start on Monday, October 10 7.15pm-9.30pm, in central Winchester and run through until January 2023, with a break for Christmas. The course will take place in two parts, before and after Christmas with the last section focussing on the specific role of a bereavement visitor and the work of WBS.
For more information contact the WBS secretary at secretary@winchesterbereavementsupport.org.uk or call 01962 620010.
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