Support Update – April 2024
Our team of Bears Of Hope counsellors is growing and with that growth comes more opportunities and flexibility in our availability. In the past 6 months, we have welcomed Maria (Hobart), Uday (Sydney), and Dianne (Melbourne) to our team as contracted counsellors.
We offer Face to Face appointments in Castle Hill (NSW), Miranda (NSW) and Hobart (TAS) and are looking to expand to the Northern Beaches (NSW), Perth (WA) and Melbourne (VIC) in 2024. All our counsellors are available for Telehealth support (online or phone counselling) and cover hours from 9am to 8pm, as well as Saturday mornings.
For those that are regular uses of our fee free counselling services we will be moving appointment platforms in the next month which will hopefully be an ease of transition for you in booking and re-arranging appointments as needed.
We are also very excited to welcome Francesca back to our team. Francesca will be coming on board as our Intake Counsellor, providing initial connection to our families who reach out for support via our support@bearsofhope.org.au email and our 1300 11 HOPE number.
We are so grateful to Coca-Cola for the grant we were awarded late last year to be able to expand and develop the supports we can offer nationwide.
The year has started quite busy for our team with the following additional supports occurring:
Looking Inward at Grief Workshops
We have started the year with some great connections with parents in our 1 day reflective workshops looking at Grief and Support.
- Feb – Perth – 6 participants
- April – Melbourne – 17 participants registered to attend
- June – Online (12 registered) and Hobart yet to get on the board with participants
When we do these workshops we also spend a day visiting local hospitals to advocate our support both in and out of the hospital experience and ensure health professionals are up to date on the services available. When in Perth, we were able to spend time at the King Edward Hospital and in Melbourne we will be seeing The Royal Women’s, Frances Perry and Melbourne Private.
To find out more about these workshops, please use this link Looking Inward at Grief 2024 – Bears of Hope
Sibling Holiday Program
From our Sydney office in Castle Hill we have been able to offer Siblings and Cousins the opportunity to explore their grief and connect with other families. Parents are also able to connect with other families in this time.
Jan – our rock decoration craft was a huge success with siblings painting and designing stones that they could leave at their siblings memorial site or at home.
April – we will be doing some “stain glass” butterfly craft to help provide another channel for grief to be explored.
Nature/Forest Therapy Walks
Bec has been working to provide these nature walks across the states. This year, we started with Canberra and will be looking at the Blue Mountains/Gold Coast/Nth NSW and Perth in the upcoming months. Parents have really enjoyed the connection to nature, providing (emotional) permission to be present and in the moment with thoughts and feelings. If you are interested in knowing more or would like to suggest a place then please email rebecca@bearsofhope.org.au
Online Meditation
Uday has been able to provide online mediation sessions once a month at 8pm (NSW time). These run for just on the hour and are an opportunity to “drop the anchor” and enable some space for the grief to be present after a week of work or “keeping busy”. You can find more about these sessions on our website.
Support Groups
Our support groups are a peer connection more than a therapy session and we encourage parents to come along and reduce that feeling of isolation that may exist in those early months. We currently have the ability to run the groups in Castle Hill, Miranda, Canberra and Online. We have decided to switch the meeting places for our groups up a little bit with Miranda meeting at the local pub each month for a chat and some social connection. We have provided a similar experience for Castle Hill. If you have not registered to join one of our support groups then we encourage you to do so. You may just feel like it one month. By registering, you will receive the updates on where the group will be held. Both parents are welcome to attend the 1.5hr time together. Grief wellness groups – Bears of Hope
Our thoughts are with all families as we move towards May and the mixed emotions that can arise with Mother’s Day. We hope that all parents have a gentle day and know that our supports are here for that one off or ongoing conversation. To those that can make one of the High Teas, we hope the day is a special one of connection – to your child and to other parents.