Assisi Hospice provides bereavement care services to any bereaved individual in the community who needs support to cope with grief and reintegrate into life after loss.
Grief and Bereavement Care is an intrinsic component of end-of-life care. Assisi Hospice’s Grief and Bereavement Care programme has expanded from one-on-one counselling to equipping the community with resources to help bereaved individuals. We have created Grief Cafes, where individuals come to share freely about their grief. Designed to be like a café or community space with a casual, inclusive and comforting atmosphere, it is a place where people can come together to share their stories, emotions, and experiences in a compassionate and non-judgmental environment. Led by trained grief counsellors, individuals are guided in navigating their grief journey through open conversations.
Individuals can decide on their level of participation – some may share openly, while others may prefer to simply listen. In addition, professional facilitation from the trained counsellor provides valuable educational inputs on coping strategies, self-care, and grief awareness. It is a space for comfort, healing, and hope following a profound loss, without deep emotional processing.
For 70 year-old Monica Lai, it was a huge blow when her husband passed on suddenly due to a heart attack in 2021. They had been married for 40 years with a loving relationship, and were enjoying their retirement together.
“He was the most selfless person I know, and took very good care of me and the family. His death was sudden. I really did not know how to carry on without him.” she shared.
As her family and close friends were in Hong Kong, she relied on phone conversations with them three to four times a week to keep herself going. Despite so, her grief manifested in physical symptoms like heart palpitations, tension headaches, poor appetite and gastric reflux. She was still plagued by these physical discomforts a year after her husband’s passing. Her friends whom she was confiding in advised her to seek help from a professional counsellor. She approached and spoke to a few of them, but did not find it helpful.
In 2023, she attended the Grief Café organised by Assisi Hospice Grief and Bereavement Care team, when she found out about it through a friend whose husband had passed on in Assisi Hospice. Our Grief Café is open to bereaved caregivers like Monica whose husband did not pass on under the care of Assisi Hospice.
She said, “I could share my experiences and feelings comfortably and without reservations during the Grief Café. The people in the group have had similar experiences, and they were able to understand how I feel, even without me saying much. They understood the depth of pain and heartbrokenness I felt. I shed a lot of tears. It was like we were in the same boat. It made the journey less scary and lonely. Some also shared on how to face grief, which was helpful to others in similar circumstances.” Monica also started one-to-one counselling sessions with our grief and bereavement counsellor. She regained confidence in her abilities as she took on new responsibilities with the passing of her husband, and also learned to appreciate the beautiful memories of the times they shared.
Assisi Hospice’s Grief and Bereavement Care team aims to empower both the bereaved and the broader community to navigate the complexities of grief together.
To learn more and sign up for Assisi Hospice’s Grief Café and other grief and bereavement care programmes.
