Thursday 9th June 2011 Liz Allen speaker on Children‟s Bereavement A A W
e have PP Brian Taffs to thank for bringing Liz Allen from
HBBS (Havering and Brentwood Bereavement Service) to speak to us on Thursday the 9th. June. Brian met Liz when he was Father Christmas at a party given to children being helped by the service. It soon became very obvious why Brian thought she would be a good speaker because from the moment she arrived she showed an enthusiastic interest in the work of Rotary and was a most charming lunch companion.
S
he admitted to being nervous as she began her talk, but any sign of
nerves were not apparent. Death is never an easy subject to talk about, but her passion and pride for the work that the Service provides helped overcome any problems of talking about the effects of bereavement on young children.
fter briefly outlining the development of the service from
a „Cinderella Charity‟ under the umbrella of the hospice to their current status Liz explained the problems faced by the charity. The principal problem is a lack of real recognition of the importance of their work, and funding by government and local authorities.
s their service covers an area from Havering though
Brentwood to Basildon the policies of the different authorities creates problems with finance as some will fund their work and some simply will not! As the work of counselling adults progressed it became obvious that many of the patients being helped were facing problems that were often triggered by issues they faced as children in relation to bereavement. This resulted in the launch of the Children‟s bereavement service, because as the figures from the work of other children‟s bereavement charities showed, 80 to a 100 children a year will experience bereavement. This high figure led the charity to re-train its counsellors, and the new service was born
I
n Havering in one year 70 children suffered bereavement, several
through suicide,. In some cases the bodies of the dead were actually discovered by the children! Those involved were shocked by both the severity of some of the cases and the high numbers.
22
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68