At South Bucks Hospice we provide a range of services to support patients physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Almost half of the emotional support we offer is to those who have been recently bereaved and in response to this we launched our Bereavement Telephone Listening Service in 2022.
Kathy is one of our Bereavement Listeners and offers weekly support for up to three months to anyone who has lost a loved one to a prolonged, advanced life-limiting illness in South Bucks.
“It is an extremely important service,” said Kathy. “A lot of people have support from their families but, for instance, there are some in their 80s who don’t have a lot of close contact with people so having a listener contacting them once a week at least gives them consistency. They know there is somebody at the end of the phone to check in with them. It is a lifeline to some people.”
“I have always been drawn to doing things supporting people and having quite a lot of bereavements myself in the years running up to doing this, I just felt a lot of people need good support and I thought this was something I could do and help with. So, I made contact and the rest is history.”
