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Compassionate Friends Victoria

Organisation

Organisation Profile

• About
  The Compassionate Friends is a peer support organisation offering friendship and understanding to bereaved parents and siblings following the death of a son or daughter, brother or sister, at any age and from any cause.
  
  Our primary purpose is to assist people in the rebuilding of their lives after the death of their child or sibling and to support their efforts to achieve physical, emotional and mental wellbeing.
  
  The secondary purpose is to provide information and education about bereaved parents and siblings. The objective is to help those in the community, including family, friends, employers, co-workers and professionals, to be supportive.
  This is achieved through shared experience peer support and self help.
  Peer Support services are based on a holistic view of mental health that recognises the importance of sharing the knowledge gained by people who have experienced the impact of mental health issues in their lives with those who are currently facing the same challenges. This forms the basis of the information, support and education delivered at TCF by specially trained volunteers, themselves bereaved parents or siblings
  
• Areas Of Interest Bereavement Depression Weight Management

Answers contributed by Compassionate Friends Victoria

• 

  Are support groups effective in dealing with the grieving process?
  The short answer is “for some people definitely” and “for most people probably, if they can find the personal resources to make that first contact”! Our experience in running bereavement support groups for The Compassionate ... read more

  Bereavement
• 

  When is grief “complicated” as opposed to “normal”?
  “Complicated” grief is given various names, such as delayed grief, chronic grief, pathological grief, distorted grief, abnormal grief. We have described the normal process of grief, but sometimes (Raphael suggests in as many as 1 ... read more

  Bereavement
• 

  How important is remembering anniversaries, and establishing rituals?
  We have discovered, as many others have, that especially acknowledging birthdays, anniversaries and other special days related to a loss, is an important part of learning to move on and handle our loss. Some researchers ... read more

  Bereavement
• 

  My friend's mother/father/brother/sister has died. How can i best support him/her?
  The following suggestions are based on data collected from those bereaved by suicide with whom we have shared, counselled and worked over the last decade or so. We believe however, that the principles apply in ... read more

  Bereavement
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  What bereavement services are available?
  Grief and Bereavement Organisations These organisations can provide bereavement support: The Compassionate Friends (links to other states around Australia) http://www.compassionatefriendsvictoria.org.au Provide Peer Support following the death of a son or daughter at any age and ... read more

  Bereavement
• 

  How does one overcome the death of a child?
  When one is the parent or sibling or grandparent experiancing the loss, it will be overcome: painfully slowly with a lot of hard work and rebuilding with a need for lots of understanding and support ... read more

  Bereavement
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  Is psychotherapy recommended for bereaved people?
  The majority of those experiencing severe loss or trauma are able to obtain sufficient support from family and friends to help them move on with their lives. Some may seek additional support by attending a ... read more

  Bereavement
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  Should bereaved families attend group counselling?
  In families – especially those families who consider themselves quite close and mutually supportive – the emergence of different grieving patterns often causes great confusion and distressing tensions between family members. The expectation is that ... read more

  Bereavement
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  Is it best to see a therapist to deal with grief?
  There are several important points influencing an answer to this question. First, each person is very complex. People have different personalities, different strengths/limitations, they come from vastly different backgrounds, and they differ on the range ... read more

  Bereavement