Links/Resource list
This is an extensive list that I have gathered over a period of time of National & local resources which includes some books and films.
Death Acceptance and Positivity
Dying Matters
08000 21 44 66
Dying Matters is a coalition of 30,000 members across England and Wales which aim to help people talk more openly about dying, death and bereavement and to make plans for the end of life. Helpline and free leaflets online, including “5 things to do before I die”. Holds a list of events for the public to attend and promotes the UK’s Dying Awareness Week in May each year.
Death Café
At death cafe people drink tea, eat cake and discuss death.
www.goodlifedeath.org.uk 0131 2722735
Good life, Good Death, Good Grief -Scottish website dedicated to promoting openness around the subject of death.
The Order of the Good Death
LA based, a collective of funeral professionals promoting death acceptance and positivity. see also Caitlin’s ‘ask a mortician’ series in the video section.
Living and Dying Well Living and Dying Well researches and analyses the evidence surrounding the ‘assisted dying’ debate. Our aim is to present readers with reliable information on which to form their own views.
Soul Midwives spiritual and holistic companions to those facing end of life
Age UK 0800 169 6565 – Age concern & age UK working together for older people
MyWishes Information and resources for sorting out your digital legacy, including tutorials for people who want to put plans in place for their online accounts at the end of life.
Digital Legacy Association– 01525 630 349 provides resources for healthcare professionals and the public. Helps people make arrangements for their digital legacy
Practical help for End of Life Care, Death and Funeral Arrangement
HMRC
What to do after a death checklist as well as signposting to further advice.
The Natural Death Centre – Registered Charity
Help, support, advice or guidance planning a funeral, either for yourself or for someone else.
01962 712690, contact@naturaldeath.org.uk
Down to Earth Support to organise an affordable and meaningful funeral, or reduce the impact of funeral related debt. A quaker social action – practical action against poverty since 1867 tel 020 8983 5055 downtoearth@qsa.org.uk
Crossings: USA site Caring for Our Own at Death, A Home Funeral and Green Burial Resource Centre
Crossings manual for home funeral care –http://www.crossings.net/resourceguide030109.pdf
Funeral CelebrantsThe leading directory of funeral celebrants in the UK.
http://www.pagan-transitions.org.uk
Pagan funerals, Pagan celebrants www.professionalcelebrants.org.uk
Compassion in Dying
A national charity working to inform and empower people to exercise their rights and choices around end of life care. 0800 999 2434
The Good Funeral Guide
Independent, not-for-profit information resource. 01372 436595
Home Funeral network
The home funeral Network UK offers support, education and guidance for those involved in arranging a home-based, family-led funeral.
Advanced Decisions Assistance
A charity working to raise awareness of Advance Decisions (‘living wills’) and to help people complete them.
Final Fling 0845 2001132 – Sort your paperwork, make plans, leave instructions, live life to the full.
Hospice UK 020 7520 8200 information about hospice care nationally
Macmillan Cancer Support – 0808 808 00 00 Provides practical, medical and financial support for people affected by cancer.
Undertakers
Divine Ceremony – Divine Ceremony is a small, independent Undertakers, serving Bristol, Bath and the surrounding area
WallaceStuart -Women Funeral directors
Bereavement and Grief Support and Information
Support & Care After Road Death Injury
0845 123 5541
info@scard.org.uk
Support after Murder and Manslaughter
0845 872 3440
support@samm.org.uk
Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide
0844 561 6855 survivors of bereavement by suicide exits to meet the needs & break the isolation of those bereaved by the suicide of a close relative or friend
Sobs.amin@care4free.net
Counselling Directory
0844 8030 240
Cruse Bereavement
0844 477 9400
Dignity in Dying
020 7479 7730
Aims ‘to make it legal for a competent adult, who is suffering unbearably from an incurable illness, to receive medical help to die at their own considered and persistent request’. Pioneers of the Living Will.
Samaritans
24-hour confidential support for those in despair, distressed or suicidal.
Helpline 116 123 for free
Email jo@samaritans.org
WAYWidowed and young
WAY is a national charity in the UK for people aged 50 or under when their partner died. It’s a peer-to-peer support group operating with a network of volunteers who have been bereaved at a young age themselves, so they understand exactly what other members are going through.
Bereavement Advice Centre supports bereaved people on a range of practical issues via a single freephone number. We give practical information and advice and signposting on the many issues and procedures that face us after the death of someone close. If we do not know the answer to a concern or query we will research it and call back within an agreed period of time or signpost to another organisation which can give the information required. We welcome calls from bereaved people and the professionals and volunteers who support them. Bereavement Advice Centre helps many people every day and aims to give straightforward, useful advice when you need it. info@bereavementadvice.org Freephone 0800 0821215
Bereavement Trust
Our trained volunteers offer comfort, support and practical advice to the bereaved from 6 pm until 10 pm- 0800 9177 4160800 435 455 www.bereavement-trust.org.uk
In Charley’s Memory – making mental health matter, a local charity based in Highbridge, Somerset. We work to support young people aged 11- 25 in a variety of ways. Our main support is through one to one counselling.
Child and Baby Charities and Child Bereavement
Winston’s Wish
Offering practical support and guidance to bereaved children, their families and professionals.
Helpline 08452 030405
The Compassionate Friends
0345 1203785
Supporting bereaved parents, siblings & grandparents after a child dies.
Child Bereavement UK
0800 02 888 40 National organisation supporting families & training professionals in a wide range of child bereavements
enquiries@childbereavement.org.uk
Child Death Helpline
0800 282 986
contact@childdeathhelpline.org
Child Funeral Charity
01480 276088
enquiries@childfuneralcharity.org.uk
Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity
(Sands ) 020 7436 5881
helpline@uk-sands.org
The Lullaby Trust
020 7802 3200
info@lullabytrust.org.uk
The Miscarriage Association
01924 200795
info@miscarriageassociation.org.uk
Grief Encounter
Helping children through Bereavement
Helpline 020 8371 8455
Papyrus 0800 068 41 41 A national charity dedicated to preventing young suicides
Together 4 short lives Together for short lives is a UK Charity for children and young people who are expected to have short lives. Bristol based 0808 8088 100 / 0117 989 7820
Courageous Parents Networks
Courageous Parents Network is about helping build parents’ resiliency when faced with a life-threatening diagnosis or condition for their child
Rosie Crane Trust
Committed to assisting in relieving distress, whether mental, physical, spiritual or emotional, caused by the bereavement of a child contact@rosiecranetrust.co.uk 01460 55120
ARC (Antenatal Results and Choices) ARC offers non-directive information and support to parents before, during and after antenatal screening; when they are told their baby has an anomaly; when they are making difficult decisions about continuing with or ending a pregnancy, and when they are coping with complex and painful issues after making a decision, including bereavement. info@arc-uk.org 02077 137356 Help line 02077 137486
Mummy’s Star
Mummy’s Star is the only charity in the UK and Ireland dedicated to women and their families affected by cancer during pregnancy.
Specific Illness Charities
Health Talk – A website with information on a range of health issues, with a focus on people’s real-life experiences. Includes videos of people who have shared their experiences about living with a health condition
MacMillan Cancer Relief Fund
0808 808 00 00
webmanager@macmillan.org.uk
The Stroke Association
0303 3033 100
info@stroke.org.uk
The Terence Higgins Trust
020 7812 1601
Info@tht.org.uk
CLIC Sargent is the UK’s leading cancer charity for children and young people, and their families. We provide clinical, practical, financial and emotional support to help them cope with cancer and get the most out of life. We are there from diagnosis onwards and aim to help the whole family deal with the impact of cancer and its treatment, life after treatment and, in some cases, bereavement.
Funeral Comparison sites
beyond.life
Independent & Impartial Funeral Comparison & Booking Service.
Services: Find a Funeral Director, Price Comparison, Pre-Paid Plans, Independent Reviews
Much Loved online tribute charity
Suppliers List
For cardboard coffins:
Cardboard coffins Earth to heaven 01243 786072 Designer coffins in various colours & designs in Cardboard, Wooden & Wicker
Greenfield creations Contact: www.greenfieldcreations.co.uk
Tel: 01440 788866
For Willow coffins:
Somerset Willow
Hand-woven by one of their skilled basked makers in their workshops in Somerset. Coffins supplied directly to funeral Directors.
Gadsby Wicker coffins
Handmade, eco-friendly Willow and Seagrass coffins. Ideal for green or natural burials. All of the coffins are supplied directly to Funeral Directors. Tel: 01278 437123
cardboardcoffincompany.com
The aim is to provide a better online direct to customer experience and help people save money when compared with purchasing from a funeral director.
For sustainable wood coffins:
John Connell makes lovely, simple coffins for burial and cremation, from his base in Gloucestershire.
website: www.honestcoffins.co.uk
Tel: 0300 303 1022
For Woollen/ Felt Coffins:
Bellacouche on Dartmoor, create a range of unique hand-crafted items from wool felt: from tea-cosies to shrouds and eco coffins – by Yuli Somme. The Leafcocoon & Leafpod are a complete alternative to conventional wooden coffins and are suitable for traditional, natural and woodland burial grounds.
website: www.bellacouche.com
Tel: 01647 441405 or 07763 935897
Funeral Order of Service stationery- although easy to create your own
Gateway – funeral stationery to the trade
Care Print – order of service
Funeral Stationery 4U.co.uk
Local support
Health Connections Mendip
If the service you are looking for is not listed below or if you would like support in finding the service that is right for you, please call Health
Connections Mendip for further information or to make a one to one, free
appointment 01373 468368.
The Royal British Legion-Frome Branch
The Royal British Legion is helping the Armed Forces community in the
Frome area. Providing a range of Branch Community Support to veteransFrome area. Providing a range of Branch Community Support to veterans
and any serving personnel as well as their families, Including:
Telephone buddies, Home and Hospital visiting, Bereavement support,
Legion Awareness Events and local information. If you’re not sure where
to turn, please get in touch
Friends in Grief Group- Shepton Mallet
Friends in Grief Group meet at the Shepton Mallet Brasserie, High Street, Shepton Mallet every Wednesday 10am – 12pm. Dorothy House staff are
available at meeting for support and advice. www.dorothyhouse.org.uk
Comfort Club Bereavement – Wookey near Wells
Wookey Hub, High Street, Wookey Nr Wells. 2nd Wednesday of the month 2pm – 3.30pm Revd Paul Clarke 01749 677078
Evercreech Bereaved Friends Group
All are welcome to join this friendly group who meet on the Third Sunday afternoon of each month in The Back room of the Village Hall starting at 3pm. You don’t have to live in Evercreech, you don’t need to have come before, nor does coming to one meeting mean that you are committed to coming again. We welcome all to come and go as you please. Revd. Rosey Lunn (830322), Helen Nicholls (860321), or Nick Sommer (830060) 01749 830322
RUH Bereavement Support Service The Bereavement Office provides a service for the newly bereaved families of patients who die at RUH; Call the Bereavement Office Manager or email for more information – Monday – Friday 08:30am – 4.30pm. 01225 824015 01225 824315
Musgrove Park Bereavement Support Service The Bereavement Office provides a service for the newly bereaved families of patients who die at Musgrove Park. To arrange an appointment with one of our Bereavement Support Officers please ring the number below. 01823 343753 http://www.tsft.nhs.uk/patients-andvisitors/chaplaincy/bereavement-support/ Bereavement – self help guide Somerset Partnership have put together self help guides on a number of topics including bereavement.
Pregnancy Crisis Support – Mendip We offer a confidential place to come to talk through your worries. We give supportive help for those facing a crisis pregnancy, or needing postabortion counselling or baby loss recovery support, or for pregnancy related issues. Please ring for an appointment. We’re open Monday to Saturday for appointments only. Please ring and leave a message, or send an email, and we’ll get back to you discretely to arrange an appointment at a convenient time. 01458 830355 * Answer-phone checked daily 07929867638
St Margaret’s Hospice Committed to providing specialist palliative care, advice, support and respite to patients and their families living in Somerset and parts of neighbouring counties. Our care is available for those who have a terminal or life-limiting illness, for example cancer, motor neurone disease and chronic lung disease. For general information and advice, or for healthcare professional referrals to all patient services, there is now only ONE number to get help. admin@st-margarets-hospice.org.uk 0845 070 8910
We Hear You (WHY)
If you are affected or have been bereaved by cancer or another life threatening illness, We Hear You provides free, professional counselling (also on-line counselling). We support children, young people and adults in Mendip from our various locations including Frome Town Hall, Christchurch Street West. We also work in various locations across the area including, The Royal United Hospital Bath, Bradford On Avon, Midsomer Norton, Street, Trowbridge and Warminster. WHY is also running a new therapeutic support group for those living with and beyond cancer (LWBC) in Frome. The groups run for between 10 – 12 weeks. 10.30 – midday at our offices in Frome Town Hall. The aim of the LWBC group is to support those who have experienced cancer through therapeutic discussions and conversations. We have no more than 10 people in the group which is facilitated by two WHY counsellors. Anyone who is interested should contact WHY on 01373 455255
Bereavement Well-Being – Frome Group Meet others who are in a similar situation in a friendly and informal setting. Drop in group on the second Monday of the month 9.45-11.45 noon. Held upstairs at Frome Medical Practice, Enos Way, Frome. info@thebereavementcentre.co.uk 07834 449069
Yeovil Hospital Bereavement Service The Hospital Bereavement Service will provide you with as much guidance as you need during the early days of a hospital bereavement. The service is available between 9am and 4.30pm Monday to Friday on 01935 384746 or 07990671855. Specialist advice and information is also available for parents who lose a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death, please contact the Hospital Bereavement Service on the above numbers for guidance. 01935 475122
Somerset Cruse
Offering support, advice and information to children, young people and adults when someone dies and work to enhance society’s care of bereaved people. Please contact Somerset Cruse on 01458 898211, leave your name and address and Cruse will send you some information along with a referral form. somersetreferrals@yahoo.co.uk 01458 898211 local number 0808 808 1677 national number
Sweet Track Centre- Glastonbury low cost counselling
https://sweet-track-counselling.co.uk › sweet-track-counselling-agency
A low cost counselling agency at the Sweet Track Centre It offers an opportunity to benefit from counselling if you are on a low income or face a long wait for other services. Young people are welcome as clients, as well as adults, as we have counsellors with experience in working with young people.
In Charley’s Memory – making mental health matter, a local charity based in Highbridge, Somerset. We work to support young people aged 11- 25 in a variety of ways. Our main support is through one to one counselling.
Marie Curie Helper Service Marie Curie helper service support people living with any terminal illness, and their families. We offer expert care, guidance and support to help them get the most from the time they have left as well as support for the carers. somersethelper@mariecurie.org.uk 0800 090 2309
Pet Rehoming
Battersea Dogs and cats Home 0800001 4444 – information about pet rehoming in England
Blue Cross 0300 790 9903 – offers advice on rehoming youer pet, with rehoming centres in England and Wales
Cat Protection Paws to listen support line
If you are experiencing pet-related grief you can call our free and confidential phone to talk to one of our trained volunteer listeners. While we are unable to offer counselling, we can provide you with a sympathetic ear at this difficult time Mon-Fri 9-5 pm 0800 0249494. And a useful resource page FAQ, providing end of life services and emergency rehousing.
The cinnamon Trust 01736 757 900 uk-wide charity for peoplw in their lasy years and theitr pets. a network of volunteers provides practical pet care services and fostering is also available for long hospital stays
National Animal Welfare Trust 020 8950 0177 Animal welfare charity with 6 rehoming centres across the South of England. Offers information about pet rehoming
7th Heaven Animal Rescue Trust 028 9443 2229 information anout pet rehoming in Northern Ireland
Scottish SPCA 03000 999 999 Information about rehoming pets in scotland, including rehoming centre contact details
Books:
The Natural Death Handbook– dying at home, helping prepare for death and dying, Living Wills, Advance Directives, Advance Funeral planning.
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End -Atul Gawande- a modern experience of mortality – about what it’s like to get old and die, how medicine has changed this and how it hasn’t, where our ideas about death have gone wrong. Atul Gawande outlines a story that crosses the globe, as he examines his experiences as a surgeon and those of his patients and family, and learns to accept the limits of what he can do.
The Soul Midwives’ Handbook: The Holistic And Spiritual Care Of The Dying-Felicity Warner
The Good Funeral Guide, Everything you need to know, Everything you need to do by Charles Cowling
The Pagan Book of Living and Dying – Starhawk: Practical Rituals, Prayers and Blessings … In response to her own mother’s death, Starhawk et al
Sacred Dying: Creating Rituals for Embracing the End of Life – Megory Anderson
Dying to be Me – Anita Moorjani. An inspirational memoir, Anita Moorjani relates how, after fighting cancer for almost four years, her body-overwhelmed by the malignant cells spreading throughout her system began shutting down. As her organs failed, she entered into an extraordinary near-death experience.
The Light Between Us: Stories from Heaven. Lessons for the Living. By Laura Lynne Jackson – Laura Lynne Jackson is a wife, a mother, a high school English teacher–and a psychic medium. Where most believe an impenetrable wall divides the world between the living and the dead, Jackson sees brilliant cords of light. She has dedicated her life to exploring our connection to the Other Side, conversing with departed loved ones, and helping people come to terms with the loss. In The Light Between Us, she writes with clarity and grace, addressing the eternal questions that vex us all: Why are we here? What happens when we die? How do we find our true path in this life? Laura Lynne Jackson’s story offers a new understanding of the vast reach of our consciousness and enlarges our view of the human experience.
Reason to Stay Alive – Matt Haig, part memoir part self-help book.
With the End in Mind– how to live and die well -Kathryn Mannix- Sunday times Best seller
Undying: A love Story -Michael faber In Undying Michel Faber honours the memory of his wife, who died after a six-year battle with cancer. Bright, tragic, candid and true, these poems are an exceptional chronicle of what it means to find the love of your life. And what it is like to have to say goodbye.
A manual for heartache- how to feel better- Cathy Rentzenbrink When Cathy Rentzenbrink was still a teenager, her happy family was torn apart by an unthinkable tragedy. In A Manual for Heartache she describes how she learnt to live with grief and loss and find joy in the world again. She explores how to cope with life at its most difficult and overwhelming and how we can emerge from suffering forever changed, but filled with hope.
This is a moving, warm and uplifting book that offers solidarity and comfort to anyone going through a painful time, whatever it might be. It’s a book that will help to soothe an aching heart and assure its readers that they’re not alone.
Dear Life – Rachel Clarke.
As a specialist in palliative medicine, Dr Rachel Clarke chooses to inhabit a place many people would find too tragic to contemplate. Every day she tries to bring care and comfort to those reaching the end of their lives and to help make dying more bearable.
Rachel’s training was put to the test in 2017 when her beloved GP father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She learned that nothing – even the best palliative care – can sugar-coat the pain of losing someone you love.
And yet, she argues, in a hospice there is more of what matters in life – more love, more strength, more kindness, more joy, more tenderness, more grace, more compassion – than you could ever imagine. For if there is a difference between people who know they are dying and the rest of us, it is simply this: that the terminally ill know their time is running out, while we live as though we have all the time in the world.
Buddhist books:
The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully, by Frank Ostaseski (Flatiron)
Awake at the Bedside: Contemplative Teachings on Palliative and End-of-Life Care, edited by Koshin Paley Ellison and Matt Weingast (Wisdom)
Making Friends with Death: A Buddhist Guide to Encountering Mortality, by Judith L. Lief (Shambhala)
No Death, No Fear: Comforting Wisdom for Life, by Thich Nhat Hanh (Riverhead)
Living in the Light of Death: On the Art of Being Truly Alive, by Larry Rosenberg (Shambhala)
Leaning Into Sharp Points: Practical Guidance and Nurturing Support for Caregivers, by Stan Goldberg (New World Library)
Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death, by Joan Halifax (Shambhala).
PodCasts
GriefCast – by Carid LLoyd- funny people talking about death and grief-podcast of the year 2018- currently 103 episodes
Films:
Island – a documentary following four people at end of life
A Love That Never Dies – is by the Stroud-based couple Jane Harris and Jimmy Edmonds documenting their search for a better way to grieve
https://alovethatneverdiesfilm.com They set up the Good Grief Project https://thegoodgriefproject.co.uk/about/
Amour – Michael Haneke’s beautifully observed drama about an elderly couple nearing the end of life
trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL8xkO3aV_o
review https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/nov/18/amour-michael-haneke-review
Grief walker – Stephen Jenkinson- Full movie Griefwalker is a National Film Board of Canada feature documentary film, directed by Tim Wilson. It is a lyrical, poetic portrait of Stephen Jenkinson’s work with dying people. Filmed over a twelve-year period, Griefwalker shows Jenkinson in teaching sessions with doctors and nurses, in counselling sessions with dying people and their families, and in meditative and often frank exchanges with the film’s director while paddling a birch bark canoe about the origins and consequences of his ideas for how we live and die.
Departures– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCJOeRCY33YA newly unemployed cellist takes a job preparing the dead for funerals. The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death. The Japanese title “Okuribito” means “the sending [away/off] people” Japanese film subtitled.
Coco https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNCz4mQzfEI2017. Disney & Pixar, Fantasy/Mystery ‧ 1h 49m
Despite his family’s generations-old ban on music, young Miguel dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol Ernesto de la Cruz. Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colourful Land of the Dead. After meeting a charming trickster named Héctor, the two new friends embark on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel’s family history.
Re:Member, Where grief & Beauty Co Exists –https://www.rememberdoc.com/ A film by Katie Teague- Years after her son’s tragic death, a bereaved mother is on an impassioned mission to un-silence grief in our modern culture that has buried and forgotten the essential art of grieving. Includes in-depth interviews with Francis Weller, Joanne Cacciatore, and Ted Waird
Festivals
To Absent Friends – Scotland
A matter of life and Death– Birmingham
Death: the human experience– past exhibition at Brisol Museum
Life, Death (& The Rest) at Arnos Vale
Death and Dying Festival– Somerset.