Bereavement Friendly Communities

Being bereaved can be one of the most difficult times in life, and the grief journey can be long and arduous.  Death used to be part of life and grief was naturally supported in communities.  If understanding support is found,  most people will learn to navigate their loss healthily.   However, following decades of ‘death denial’, UK society has lost the art of grief support, leaving bereaved people vulnerable to mental ill-health and other problems.  

AtaLoss is committed to regaining good community grief support.  Since churches are in every community and are often connected to bereaved people through funerals and chaplaincy, we are equipping churches to be more bereavement friendly and to work alongside other organisations to become catalysts for  Bereavement Friendly Communities.

As part of this many churches are offering our The Bereavement Journey® programme which is becoming increasingly trusted and directed to by funeral directors, GPs, social prescribers and other health care workers, and which has spread to over 400 locations across the UK.

We also offer training to support children and young people through loss, and increasingly to help staff understand and support bereavement in the workplace.

For more information about Bereavement Friendly Churches contact our Head of Church Engagement, Revd Nicky Grey.

For information about our Bereavement Friendly Communities development or workplace training contact our Deputy CEO, Roger Greene.

Email office@ataloss.org