Bereavement Support

We provide emotional support to families of babies, children, young people and their families accessing Acorns services, from diagnosis through to end of life and following the death of a child.
An assessment of each family’s needs is undertaken by a family team worker, who is fully qualified with a background in nursing and or social care. They will then offer and provide pre and post-bereavement support to meet emotional and practical needs of families as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
Each family has access to a family team worker to provide psychosocial, emotional and practical support.
Siblings are supported through a specialist siblings service which may take the form of group support, time limited individual support or a bespoke residential programme.
At end of life, the family will be supported by the whole hospice team. This includes:
-Advance care planning to prepare for how to deal with the actual reality of bereavement, helping give families choice and control around the end of life of their child
-One-to-one or family home visits
-School visits providing bereavement support to siblings and advice and support for teachers
-An out of hours service is also available 24 hours a day
-Support to extended family such as grandparents
-Support via group work and workshops
-Practical advice and support with funeral arrangements, registering a child’s death, liaising with other agencies and ensuring other family members are informed
-Access to the special bedroom after the death of a child
-Encouraging and facilitating memory capturing – this may include photography, building memory boxes or books
-Inviting and supporting families at memorial events
-Access to the hospice memorial garden

• Staff are suitably qualified