I am bereaved

Support if you are grieving 
After someone dies there are a great many people to tell, procedures to follow and things to arrange. You may not know where to begin as your world will have been turned upside down. Take a look at this information from our referral partner, Cruse Bereavement Care to help guide you through this process. 

Coping with a Bereavement 
The death of someone close can be one of the hardest things we have to deal with. There is no normal or ‘right’ way to grieve.  How you react will depend on many things – who died and how, your age and experience, personality and culture or religion. Everybody experiences bereavement differently and it’s important to give yourself time and space to grieve in the way that feels right to you.  

For some, this might mean time alone, for others, less so. It may feel like you are alone in your grief, but the support is out there from friends or family, your GP, local support groups, or you can seek help from the national charity Cruse Bereavement Care. 

Local Bereavement Support for Carers 

One of Birmingham Carers Hub’s referral partners is Cruse Bereavement Care Birmingham. Cruse provides FREE bereavement support and counseling to anyone living in the Birmingham area and will help you to understand your bereavement.

Cruse understands how a bereavement can impact on Carers and how your grief journey can feel very different to other bereavement experiences. Being a Carer is hard work and it can mean making huge sacrifices in your life. The amount of time that you have been a Carer will depend on your circumstances, but in all likelihood, you will have experienced some aspects of grieving whilst your loved one was alive. Regardless of how prepared you felt, after their death there will still be grieving to be done and you might be feeling lost and confused about what to do with your life moving forward. 

Resources and Further Support 
To contact Cruse Bereavement Care Birmingham, call 0121 687 8010. You will be able to leave a message on the answer machine and a team member will return your call to establish the best type of support that you need. You can also email the team with your contact details enquiries@crusebirmingham.co.uk. 

Cruse has a range of factsheets and booklets that you might find useful during this difficult time. Watch this short presentation explaining how bereavement affects us, and how bereavement and grief are being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. It offers some coping tips and sources of further help from Cruse and other organisations. 

Even when your caring role comes to an end, Birmingham Carers Hub is still here to support you.