The death of someone we love has devastating effects on our lives. We may know that it will happen, but it is always a shock, no matter how good or bad a relationship may be. Our feelings can sometimes be taken care of by new projects, social interaction, family support and many other ways that individuals find helpful. Often our feelings are just repressed and exhibit themselves much later in our lives, when we think we have forgotten about our loss. Some people don't have the social or community support needed to help them cope. In either case, feelings of grief may become emotional or behavioural problems, that we put down to the way we live, work or play. But, many times, if we try hard enough to think about our lives, we can trace the negative feelings back to a loss often someone we have loved or still love.
I salute those who self refer themselves to our services and those who engage in the counselling process and are able to trust their thoughts and feelings with a 'stranger'- our wonderful bereavement counselling visitors do such a great job of putting people at ease and supporting them through such difficult times, for this I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
Anyone who has unfortunately experienced the death of someone they love will understand how much it helps to talk... to try to make some sense of it... especially following a suicide or other sudden death... when we haven't had a chance to say 'goodbye'.
I would like to thank Paulo and Raksha, for their dedication,
hard work and commitment to BBS; thanks to Valerie, for her devotion to BBS
during the past 17 years; thanks to Jacqui and Rohini for supporting our volunteers
so very well;
thanks to my colleagues on the Management Committee for their cooperation and
many thanks to our funders, without you we would not be able to provide this
valuable service.