IRHH Launches Email-based Bereavement Support Service
The Iain Rennie Hospice at Home launched an innovative e-Listening Service at its annual conference on Wednesday 1st October 2008 at Green Park Training and Conference Centre, Aston Clinton. Masterminded by the IRHH's Family Support Team, the e-Listening Service aims to provide bereavement support for bereaved relatives of Iain Rennie patients using email and is believed to be one of the first services of its type to be launched in the UK . The e-Listening service was funded in part by a grant from the Awards for All England programme and will accept clients from 1 st November 2008.
Registered e-Listening clients will be able to receive bereavement support from a team of professionally trained e-Listeners. Led by Family Support Services Manager, Sue Grace , and Family Support Team Assistant, Claire McLachlan , the team will be manned by fully trained volunteer e-Listeners who will have an understanding of the range of emotions that bereaved people may be experiencing. The e-Listeners will provide a personal and confidential response to clients.
Sue Grace said, "We are very proud of the new e-Listening service and hope that over time it will provide support for many people for whom traditional bereavement care may not be appropriate. e-Listening will be of particular value to bereaved people who either find it difficult to access other forms of support or those who may prefer to use email as their chosen form of communication. It also allows our Family Support Team to offer support to people who live outside the Iain Rennie Hospice at Home's catchment area."
Although the service can receive emails at any time, it will not be manned permanently, but e-Listeners will aim to respond to clients personally by email within three to five working days. The service will only be available to bereaved relatives of Iain Rennie patients who will need to register online at www.irhh.org/e-listening.
Sue and Claire point out that e-Listening is not an emergency service and the e-Listening web page provides useful links to other organisations who can provide alternative forms of bereavement support. As an internet-based service, the e-Listening service is available to all age groups but anyone under the age of 16 years is strongly advised to inform their parents, guardians or other suitable adults that they are using the service. The Iain Rennie Hospice at Home can not accept responsibility for minors accessing and using the service.
Sue and Claire gave an overview of the new service at the end of the conference morning session - see the video link below - and during the break for lunch, Jill Wallis, a speaker at the conference and a previous IRHH user, officially launched the service. Jill cared for her late husband, Chris, with the help of Iain Rennie Hospice at Home nurses in 2004.
You can see the eListening launch on Youtube
2nd October 2008
