Bereavement Counselling Service
The Crystal Lee Foundation offers a Bereavement Counselling Service to people across South West Victoria.
Our Counsellor is available to provide support through the grieving process supporting all ages and backgrounds.
Our service is free of charge, confidential and compassionate. No referral is needed.
Grief is complex
The death of a loved one can trigger a range of intense and complex emotions.
​Death can not be avoided for ourselves or those we love.
​Your experience of bereavement may be as a result of an unexpected event such as an accident, suicide or medical condition or after a long illness where, although you knew it was coming, the finality of losing your loved one is made very real with their last breath.
​Then there are occasions when death hasn’t happened yet, but is not far away. It may be that you have already begun to grieve for the loss of your loved one.
​There is no “rule book” for how to cope when it happens and people will experience a range of emotions and deal with loss in their own way.
​
Imagine this…..
It is Christmas and it's five years since your mother died but after all this time the grief wells up unexpectedly when you go to set the table and again there is one less setting.
You’ve suppressed your feelings for so long because they were too raw but now, they can no longer be contained.
Your family sees you crying but do not understand and rush to “cheer you up”.
You need a space to sit with your grief and work through it but you are not finding it at home.
Grief may
become overwhelming
After death has occurred, we are occupied with the initial “busy period” making arrangements, preparing for and attending the funeral etc.
After this comes a time when you may experience a sense of the “fog lifting” and that the world has continued on without you.
​Grief may become overwhelming at this time as family and friends have gone.
The visits are not as frequent, the flowers, the cards, casseroles and support you experienced as an expression of sympathy have stopped being delivered. ​
​
Imagine this…..
​​It is 7am. You are getting ready for work and there is knock on the door and you open to see the uniformed police officer.
When they ask to come in you know that it must be bad news and your head is swirling trying to think if the kids got home safely last night.​ In a hushed tone the police officer informs you that your teenage child has been found unresponsive most likely due to an overdose.
You’re numb, you can see the officer’s lips move but their words no longer register.
All you can hear are the words, “Overdose” and “Deliberate self-harm”.
You ask yourself,
“How did I not know?’;
“Why didn’t they come to me?” “What more should I have done?’
​As the days go by you are no closer to the answers, but as the head of the family ,others are looking to you to support them in their grief. You just don’t know where to find the strength you need.
Grief may feel too
much to bear alone.
The first step of reaching out for help can often be the hardest so we want you to know that we provide the opportunity to share this time in a private, comfortable and confidential space.
​We will warmly welcomed you. This could be for weekly, fortnightly, monthly or perhaps just a one-off session.
​There is no limit to how many times you will be made welcome.
​An appointment for counselling may be made via a referral from a General Practitioner, Mental Health Worker, a support service or can be made directly without a referral.
​
Imagine this…..
​Your life partner has died in a tragic accident and it is two months on.
​
The sympathy cards have been put away. No one is dropping off flowers or meals and it seems everyone else has moved on with their lives and no longer even mention your partner’s name.
​
Most mornings you wake up thinking nothing has changed until you see the empty space in the bed beside you and you are overwhelmed by grief all over again.
Your world has been turned upside down and you do not even know how to contemplate your next steps, let alone imagine being happy ever again.
The Crystal Lee Foundation Bereavement Counselling Service
is here to offer
Light Through The Darkness
Available across South West Victoria for everyone
no matter the circumstances.
We each grieve in our own way
and our own time
Reach Out to ...