With five Help Points already set up in Lewisham, Bromley, Crystal Palace, Croydon and, most recently, Orpington; our new Bereavement Help Points are part of a pioneering project to assist people in our communities seeking support following bereavement.

Created by St Giles Hospice in the West Midlands in 2012, Bereavement Help Points are a place where the public can access information and guidance on bereavement services in their local area.

The Help Points are staffed by volunteers who have experience talking with people facing loss and are able to listen to visitors as well as help them understand and ‘normalise’ the feelings they are having.

This is not a counselling service, but rather volunteers will be trained and supported by the Bereavement Team at St Christopher’s to meet visitors at the Help Points and sign-post community services and St Christopher’s services that they might find helpful.

One focus of the Help Points is to bring together people with shared experiences of bereavement and enable them to create their own groups of mutual support and care to help them deal with the challenges and emotions they face.

Weekly drop-in sessions

The Bereavement Help Points are currently running weekly drop-in sessions in the following locations:

WHERE	WHEN
Lewisham Carers Centre in Forest Hill	2pm – 4pm every Wednesday
The United Reformed Church in Bromley	10am – 12noon every Wednesday
Upper Norwood Library in Crystal Palace	10am – 12 noon every Thursday
Croydon University Hospital	2pm – 4pm every Friday
Orpington Methodist Church Hall	12.30 – 2.30pm every Friday