Compassion Autumn 2022

Autumn 2022 - Compassion | www.tcf.org.uk 6 I have always been a great advocate for our in person retreats and personally benefited immensely from a couple of retreats before I became involved with the Compassionate Friends as both a trustee and as a volunteer. However, if I am honest with myself, the passage of time over the three years since being involved in our last in person retreat had made me forget just how special these events are and how they really are at the heart of TCF. For anyone who has not been on a retreat or is unfamiliar with the concept they can find out more by looking at the TCF website. In short, the retreats are an opportunity for bereaved parents at various different stages of their grief journey to congregate together from a Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon with other bereaved parents, to take part in support groups and discussions, to listen to talks, to get immersed in craft activities, to try out a writing workshop, to do some yoga, to go for a walk or run… or simply to do nothing at all but be there. And to eat some really good food on a very regular basis throughout the three days. What TCF offers and actually provides is a very safe place for bereaved parents (and siblings in the case of the sibling retreat) to get together over a weekend and be with other bereaved parents with a team of experienced TCF volunteers overseeing the whole weekend and providing support, assistance, care and love. And this recent retreat was no different to many others that had gone before in that it fulfilled all those criteria as set out above. However, for me I think there was one great difference and that was a renewed and greater appreciation of everything that we can do and that we do as TCF and as TCF volunteers. I say a greater appreciation because that is what I felt this weekend. Why? Well perhaps in part because I personally am now 8 years into my own grief journey and so certainly see and feel things differently to how I did in the early years. But I think the main thing was the time that had passed since we are able to provide these very special and personal retreats. I had forgotten just how significant they can be for the many bereaved parents who attend many of whom are in the very early stages of their grief. Our aim at TCF is to provide peer to peer support and that is best illustrated at our retreats. What I especially noticed at this retreat was the difference in mood and atmosphere between the start of the weekend and the end of the weekend. For bereaved parents, being able to be immersed in a weekend dedicated to remembering their children, discussing their loss, learning from others and in many cases helping others, provides a very