HOPE Bereavement Support started in 2013 after I identified sadly from my own experiences that there lacked a safe space for mothers whom had lost a baby to miscarriage or other child loss at any stage of their unborn/born child’s life.
I found that all women were not being afforded the opportunity to seek our emotional and mental support due to stigma, shame and ignorance surrounding these precious losses especially within my own and other BME communities where this kind of loss was a very Taboo subject to talk about – Let alone say or ask for mental health support! I found that a lot of the minority community groups were unable to access support for their loss and not feel alone or ostracised. As a Muslim I felt very alone and further isolated due to my Islamophobia experiences from the professionals and others.
I had a strong vision of making support accessible to all regardless of age, gender, religion, ethnicity or any other difference should be able to access mental health and emotional support for their loss.
HOPE bereavement support originated and GREW from my personal painful experience; where I am the proud mother of my 9 rainbow children. This determination came after unsuccessfully trying to access support groups after losses. I came across many obstacles in my bid to access counselling which motivated me for no other woman to experience the hardship I had to embark on their healing journey.
I had became determined and empowered to such an extent that I went back to school and changed my career path to become a qualified and registered counsellor & Training Consultant. Empowered to utilise my skills and experience for the benefit of the wider and unfortunately neglected community I set off with great Passion and HOPE in my heart and prayer in my hands.
The humble beginnings of HOPE Bereavement Support started with three trustees; including me the founder. It was a small constituted community group in Leeds with a big vision. The ethos behind the group was always to provide a support group for women and families to meet and not feel alone when suffering a child loss, more than 7 years on we have now grown to become a national based wider covering Bereavement support and services offering support groups in Leeds, Bradford and London.
We have a team of over 30 people now including many qualified counsellors, coaches, occupational therapist and clinical supervisors and many befrienders and volunteers.
We offer initial FREE counselling to all accessing our services for these needs so to ensure no one is blocked from accessing support when needed, please see links below for further information and also to self-refer please link to fill in enquiry form:
Our services:
- Counselling
- Coaching
- Bereavement Support Groups
- Mental health and Emotional wellbeing resilience workshops
- Educational and Awareness building Workshops
- Academic Research
- Media
HOPE Bereavement Support website
HOPE Bereavement Support on Facebook
HOPE Counselling & Consultancy on Twitter
To get in contact with HOPE Bereavement Support, email admin@hopebereavementsupport.com.