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.
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Death can not be avoided for ourselves or those we love.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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We will warmly welcomed you.
This could be for weekly, fortnightly, monthly or perhaps just a one-off session.
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There is no limit to how many times you will be made welcome.
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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.