Support for grieving children – Hospice Service Winsen

Young people, adults or even the whole family often start with individual counselling. However, they often switch to group counselling. In groups, they can feel they are not alone.  Even though everyone's grief is individual, it is the same in many respects and sharing your thoughts and emotions is very valuable.

 

Young people meet once a month, and children every two weeks. At the meetings, the focus is placed on the sense of togetherness, expressing one’s own emotions and sharing memories of the deceased person and creating the necessary space for this. 

  

During group meetings with small children, the hospice service observed that they sometimes need a place of retreat. 

 

Unfortunately, bereavement services are not yet subsidised by health insurance funds, so this area is financed entirely by donations and third-party funding. The services offered by the hospice service in Winsen are free of charge for families.

 

This project helps grieving parents, children and siblings to “come to terms” with the loss of a loved one and to find their way again, especially in everyday life. 

 

As a grieving person myself, I can only say that I am infinitely grateful for the support of the hospice service. I had always assumed that a hospice service only accompanies seriously ill people and their families, but the work goes far beyond that.

 

When your own child, a parent or a sibling dies at a young age, the world stops turning for you and everything seems to stand still. Unfortunately, it is not the case. The world keeps on turning. In the beginning, those around you are very understanding, but over time outsiders forget the tragedy or the terrible event and then understanding usually fades. But it is very difficult for those affected to endure this or even to pick up the pace of the rest of the world again as they never forget the loss. Unfortunately, the saying “time heals all wounds” does not apply in this case. 

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Time changes the grief, yes, the feeling of despair becomes less strong, but the feeling of missing never stops!

 

Sharing the same memories over and over again because no new ones are added becomes a “burden” for outsiders because they always hear the same “old” stories. This is why the work of the hospice service is so important. Not only are you supported here in the worst and most painful phase of your life, but you no longer feel alone and can share all your memories with other grievers and everyone understands that the same story has to be told a tenth time because everyone is in the same boat and can only tell a certain number of stories. But it is precisely these stories and memories that keep the deceased with us and, in a way, “alive” and so they will never be forgotten!​