News about CRUSE
Cruse Bereavement Care nationally was set up in 1959 and Cruse Bereavement Care Suffolk established in 2009. The purpose of the charity is to promote the wellbeing of bereaved people enabling anyone who is bereaved by death to understand their loss and to cope with their grief. HM the Queen is Royal Patron and locally the patrons are The Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, Lord Cranworth, Lady Freud, Lord Prior and Lady Somerleyton. In 2018, the Suffolk branch received over 800 enquiries and volunteers gave over 5000 hours of their time. They were able to provide one to one support to over 400 local people.
Back in August we were very pleased to meet with Elizabeth and Nick Murphy from the charity to hear about recent developments and initiatives and how the charity has developed over the past 20 years.
A contact line takes all initial calls and provides two telephone calls for initial support and assessment before having the opportunity for a one to one with a trained volunteer. During telephone calls, the charity is also able to signpost callers to other organisations that may be useful for them. Clients who need further support can expect to receive on average six sessions of about an hour and the charity will support anyone at any time, whether the loss is recent or not.
CRUSE also offers training in the workplace and education establishments. They have volunteers specifically trained to support young people. These volunteers have enhanced DBS checks and regular safeguarding training.
The Gotelee team regularly meet with clients who have recently lost loved ones and it is good to be able to give details of CRUSE and their support – all of which is a free service. Elizabeth Murphy commented “It is important to point out that funds raised in Suffolk go directly to supporting Suffolk people and we are very grateful to those who continue to raise money for our charity. If anyone is interested in either volunteering with us or fundraising, I would be delighted to hear from them [email protected].”