Bereavement Services

Grief is a natural and normal response to loss. Many people can find it helpful to access support from outside of their own social network. The Bereavement Support Service is provided by the Social Work Department and is open to all people whose relative or friend received care from Our Lady’s Hospice & Care Services.

Our Bereavement Services booklet outlines in more detail the services offered.

If you wish to avail of the Bereavement Support Service or receive an invitation to any of our events please fill out and return the Keeping in Touch form so we have permission to contact you. You can also call us on: 01 4068750

Bereavement Services available at OLH&CS

Our Bereavement Service is available to adults and children who have had a loved one die in our care.

It is free and non-denominational. We recognise that people living in Ireland from different cultural backgrounds may experience or express their grief in different ways. The bereavement service will try to offer the support that would be helpful to meet your particular needs.

• Remembrance Evening – This event provides information on the grieving process and an opportunity to remember the person who has died through poetry, music and ritual. Information is provided on accessing other bereavement services. To receive an invite please ensure you return a Keeping in Touch form to OLH&CS. Invitations are sent three to five months after bereavement.
• Individual bereavement support and counselling for adults and children – Provided by professionals and the bereavement support team.
• Children’s bereavement weekend – This group, for children, helps to normalise the experience of loss and ease the sense of isolation that many experience when someone close to them dies. It is a relaxed, fun environment where children are helped to develop strategies to cope with their grief.
• Educational support for parents of bereaved children – This is offered to parents whose children attend the bereavement weekend.
• Parenting bereaved children – This programme helps parents to care for children who are bereaved through the death of a parent. It takes place over four weeks with each session lasting two hours.
• Therapeutic work with families based on their individual needs.
• Annual Remembrance Mass for family and friends whose loved one has died in the previous year.
• Blue Christmas – This annual event for adults and children acknowledges that Christmas can be a painful, difficult or lonely time when you are newly-bereaved. Through poetry and music, this event provides support and offers strategies to help cope with grief at Christmas