Funding has played a large part in my working life. It
gets more difficult each year to fundraise for work that is already successfully
being carried out. Many funders require new initiatives and developments - they
assume our core work is funded by government grants or rattling cans! What pulls
us through is the knowledge that our work benefits both bereaved people and
our community. From the evaluation figures you can judge for yourself the beneficial
outcomes
our work produces.
We help bereaved people come to terms with increasingly shocking cases, often sudden and totally unexpected deaths. In an area like Brent, it is not just the emotional distress of the death of a loved one, but the social and financial consequences that affect the lives of individuals and families.
Referrals of bereaved people with mental health issues
have increased by 60%! which has had a great impact on our services - more support
for volunteers means more supervision and increased costs. Training in mental
health issues for our volunteers has been a priority for me, but getting free
training has been impossible - although we are always pleased to provide bereavement
awareness training for those in need.
Our new twice weekly drop in centre, in partnership with South Kilburn New Deal for Communities, has been supporting local people suffering loss and bereavement for over six months. I look forward to continued growth and development of this service and establishing other drop in centres to the north of Brent.
Thank you to all our highly skilled volunteers for their hard graft. It is because of your professional outlook to your work that we maintain a high quality service.
Thanks to Raksha for keeping the office running and supporting me during some challenging times; to Valerie for being there to lend a helping hand, her encouragement and her willingness to share her knowledge. Thanks to Jacqui, Rohini and Valerie, our highly skilled supervisors; thanks to our Management Committee Members for their dedication and thanks to our funders, who have the foresight to know that bereavement counselling really helps individuals and our society.
Last, but certainly not least, my great thanks to Mary Kenny, who lost her fight with cancer in June. Mary was a wonderful person, always full of life and compassion for others. A truly professional Bereavement Visitor and very supportive Management Committee Member, who was loved by all of us. I will always treasure my memories of Mary as I am sure will many others.
The battle continues at many levels and many different sides.