Bereavement is one of the most difficult events in life which leads to a powerful trail of emotions involving everyone in the family; not just the immediate parents or children, but families, friends and even relative strangers. What does one say?
Projects
Projects that fall under the umbrella of Terminal Illness and Loss include:
- Shattered Dreams Drop In ~ A private area for bereaved parents
- To provide a wide age range of resources including a book list specific to Terminal Illness & Bereavement
- Terminal Illness & Bereavement Diary style book
- We also aim to develop a range of workshops for all; from craft projects to promoting self-awareness amongst professionals, friends & family to increase pro-active support for those whose lives have been shattered.
How should you tell a child that their brother, sister or parent may only be with them for a short time or that something fatal has happened?
We are all individuals and so Understanding Differences cannot provide any answers to these questions because there is no correct answer, what we can offer is a way to see how others have coped with their experiences of terminal illness, expected or sudden loss.
Many could say that loosing an elderly person is one of the easier kinds of bereavement but, initially every loss is difficult to come to terms with.
There is no right or wrong text to cover all types of loss, for all people, all situations... but it can be summarised that loss as a result of diagnosed condition or genuine accident is different from losing one to suicide, with an accident there may be less to cause a deep feeling of guilt, losing one to suicide could cause immense guilt and questions for people left behind.
We hope to develop something for everyone however the main focus of our projects at present are based on supporting children through grief or parents who have lost a child...
Child loss, on the other hand, whether through short or long term illness, accident or suicide is a category of its own at no matter what age this occurs as the affects of outliving our children are immensely deep rooted and life-changing.
The books, publications, forum and outside links allow people to access a wide variety of resources which we hope will provide a wide range of experiences for people to draw from in order to maintain some rationalisation within anyone’s thoughts.
We also hope to help family and friends to understand the grieving process things that could support others and of the things that maybe do not help!
It is therefore hoped that the resources provided by Understanding Differences will in some small way help to bridge the gap that can sometimes form between people, friends and families whenever the subject of terminal illness or loss is raised.
GARDEN INFO??A memorial garden can be a physical or virtual place to pay tribute
to a loved one.
Some have a burial which comes with its own space to remember and
pay tribute open to friends and family members. For some this is best, for others
this has been said to be quite difficult due to unknown restrictions or a 'tie' to
stay in a particular area.
Many set aside a space in their home garden, for special
times to remember and as a way of coping.
Understanding Differences Web site memorial
garden is a virtual place for people to place a picture and messages regarding a
lost loved one.
The following links are presented as a guide to learning about a subject, these are third party sites and beyond the control of Understanding Differences.
Depression
BBC web site - Brief overview of Depression.
Royal college of Psychiatrists - information and leaflets on depression and treatment.
BUPA - overview of Depression.
NHS - Depression symptoms, causes and treatment