The Dove Service have been awarded funding via the National Lottery Community Fund, enabling us to offer additional grief counselling & support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The National Lottery Community Fund (who distribute more than £600 million each year to communities across the UK), have provided funding to allow us to set up a specialist counselling team to support adults affected by grief, be that through a bereavement, significant loss or life-changing/limiting illness.
The focus will primarily be on parents, carers and professionals who are experiencing issues around grief, particularly in relation to the current COVID-19 pandemic. The service will also be able to support adults who are themselves supporting children and young people with these issues, alongside offering telephone/video link counselling in North Staffordshire, Cheshire and the Wirral. Parents and professionals will also be able to access advice and guidance on how they can best support the children in their care, as well as gaining their own support.
This funding will also allow the Dove Service to offer support and B.A.C.P. (British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy) accredited counselling to adults in Stoke-on-Trent, North Staffordshire, Cheshire and the Wirral (via telephone and video link). We will be able to support adults who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, along with those who may be struggling with a bereavement, significant loss or life-changing/life-limiting illness diagnosis.
Sarah Mockridge, Project Manager, comments “Our communities have been impacted by significant change in a relatively short space of time. We recognise that the challenges imposed by such significant change can have a real detrimental effect on an individual’s mental health. Add to that a significant loss or a bereavement, and this can result in people feeling vulnerable and completely overwhelmed, especially at the present time when social isolation, loneliness and anxiety are at a peak”.
Sarah adds “Whether the loss is recent, or current events have made a past loss more difficult to process, the National Lottery Community Fund has enabled the Dove Service to be able to offer additional support to people in our communities in these unprecedented times and we are so grateful for their support”.
Adults will be able to access grief counselling and support by contacting the Dove Service at our head office on tel. 01782 683155. (Office hours Mon-Fri 9.00am – 5.00pm – please leave a message and your call with be returned)
