Get talking, share stories and get talking about dying and grief.
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Dealing with the death of a loved one or someone you know is usually stressful and there is a lot of stigma and social isolation associated with conversations about death. Talking about death and dying can be tough but it is a fact of life that everyone faces at some point in their lives.
57% of employees will have experienced a bereavement in the last five years and every day, more than 600 people quit work to look after older and disabled relatives. Despite this, fewer than one in five managers feel very confident supporting someone they manage with bereavement.
Culturally there is a lot of stigma around grieving and a lack of understanding around what it means to be ill and what actually happens when you are dying. This means that when we are faced with death, we struggle to cope and don’t know what to do to support someone struggling.
We spend so much of our life at work and the workplace should not be a place where people have to hide their experiences of death and dying from colleagues or bosses. Everyone wants to live in an open and compassionate society where everyone is supported when facing the realities of dying, death and grief.
What do you do as a business to support those struggling with grief, and how would you deal with bereavement in your place of work?
Starting conversations about death is not as hard as you think and listening, planning and making the workplace a supportive environment will benefit everyone.
We are encouraging local businessess to start a conversation and be better prepeared to discuss death, grief and dying, by coming to a free workshop at our Hospice office next month for Dying Matters Awareness Week. On Wednesday 10th May 2023, 7.30-9.30am at our hospice offices at Moulton Park, Amanda Taylor, our End of life Care Practice Development Team Leader and Nurse Specialist and Claire Mould, our Patient & Family Liasion Worker will be discussing how to help businesses support their team if an employee is bereaved and if a team member dies.
