Two local hospice charities have joined forces to launch an essential bereavement service to support individuals dealing with grief.

Northamptonshire’s sister hospice charities Cransley Hospice Trust and Cynthia Spencer Hospice Charity came together after seeing a demand in the county for services to support people through their journey of an end of life diagnosis and palliative care.

The hospices worked together to secure funding and put out a tender for the delivery of the service.

Charities Age UK and Mind were successful in winning the tender and will both provide specialist email and telephone support, as well as one-to-one counselling from a qualified, registered counsellor as part of the newly launched Hummingbird Bereavement Service. There will also be structured support groups, taking place at Age UK or Mind premises, facilitated by a bereavement specialist. The service is open to anyone in Northamptonshire, aged 18 or over, who has received a terminal diagnosis and is considered to be in their last year of life, or is a family member or friend that has been bereaved following the death of someone with a terminal diagnosis.

Victoria Gray, Head of Service Transformation and Commissioning for Cransley Hospice Trust, has been instrumental in setting up the project.

She said: “Following research across the county, it was clear that the bulk of bereavement support was managed through hospice chaplains, and that there was a key gap in one-to-one bereavement counselling.  This as a fantastic opportunity to deliver a service that meets the public need.

“Financially, the Hummingbird Bereavement Service is totally independent from the NHS – even though we have worked with Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and the NHS to develop the service – and the funding we have secured will provide the service for the first 15 months. After this, we will need to fundraise to keep it going.

“We are delighted to work together with Age UK and Mind on this project. Both charities have a wealth of experience in delivering services like this and have an amazing team of qualified counsellors and bereavement specialists who can really help in providing the compassionate support that is so vitally needed.”

Anita Frith, Director of Income Generation and Communications at Cynthia Spencer Hospice Charity, added: “We are really excited to launch the Hummingbird Bereavement Service in Northamptonshire and know that it will really make a difference to those dealing with an end of life diagnosis and those who are recently bereaved following a friend or family member’s terminal illness.

“To see four great charities coming together to offer this vital support is really uplifting. Through Hummingbird Bereavement Service we can offer genuine, specialist support to make lives better.”

Photo caption: Victoria Gray, representing Cransley Hospice Trust and Cynthia Spencer Hospice Charity, with Joanna Ruff, Bereavement Community Lead Counsellor at Age UK, and Vivien Jean- Paul, Bereavement Community Coordinator at Age UK.