Chaotic care: An experiment in family bereavement support

The death of a significant person has a profound effect on a family no matter at what stage of the life cycle this may occur. However, it seems even more distressing when it is a family with growing children dealing with death and the consequent overwhelming grief.

At Peninsula Hospice Service, we were aware that we had provided some great and timely support for children experiencing grief through our Chatty Cats (9-14 year olds) and Share Bears (3-8 year olds) programmes. But the support for parents had been ad hoc. Therefore, we decided to pilot a programme that could provide bereavement support for the whole family at the same time.

What emerged from this decision was a six session weekly programme, divided into three concurrent groups with the Share Bears programme for young children, Chatty Cats for older children and a parent or guardians group. Five counselling staff facilitated the sessions and a dedicated and brave band of volunteers assisted with all groups

This paper is a summary of the process, the programme and the outcomes (for both families and staff) of what came to be known as chaotic Wednesday afternoons. The parent evaluations indicated that the pilot was a major success and it is hoped that post group evaluations reinforced this.