St Giles Hospice - Our Five Year Strategy - 2017-2022 St Giles Five Year Strategy 2017 | Page 7

Our community
Living with dying
2,306
people received
bereavement support
in 2016
We’re striving to create a society
where we can all support each
other during difficult times.
Many of us find talking about
dying hard because we are afraid
of saying the wrong thing. But
we know from our experience
that talking about death can be
incredibly positive. In our communities we have set up
groups to help increase people’s
confidence to talk about dying.
We believe that enabling our
communities to understand
bereavement is essential and
we provide training for schools,
employers and a wide range of
other organisations.
There are practical issues such
as financial planning, funeral
wishes, treatment choices and
place of care to consider, as well
as emotional issues like trying to
say goodbye. St Giles has provided support for
bereaved families for many years
and now shares this knowledge
widely via Bereavement Help Points
and Phoenix at St Giles which are
open to everyone in our community.
Phoenix at St Giles is a service
dedicated to supporting young
people deal with the impact of loss.
We believe that talking about
dying is fundamental to
improving care – both for
those who are ill and those who
are grieving.
At St Giles, we’re trying to break
the taboo that surrounds talking
about dying and helping people
to be better equipped to deal with
death and plan for it.
“Children don’t get over the grief of losing a parent – the grief evolves with
time – so it’s good to know we have this support should we need it. I feel
very privileged to have been offered a place on the family support group.
I thought because my husband had not died at St Giles Hospice that we
wouldn’t be eligible.” Family support client
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