Latest news

Giving Tuesday - 29th November 2022

Giving Tuesday is taking place on 29th November 2022. A global day of giving, Giving Tuesday encourages people to donate to their favourite causes and charities. We at The Compassionate Friends are asking people to consider donating on Giving Tuesday towards the costs of our induction of and training and support for our volunteers.

We have over 250 volunteers, who are all bereaved parents or bereaved adult siblings. Each year, they provide vital peer support to around 20,000 parents and siblings who have also experienced the pain of loss of a son, daughter, brother or sister of any age and from any cause.

Our volunteers provide the compassion, empathy, understanding, friendship and hope that only other bereaved parents and siblings can give. This support is offered in person, individually, in groups or at supportive events, as well as over the telephone, by email, online or in print. We need to regularly recruit and induct additional bereaved parents and siblings as volunteers so that we maintain, and hopefully increase, the range of peer support we offer. In addition, all our volunteers, regardless of their length of service or their role within TCF, participate in our formal training and informal sharing sessions so that we maintain a high level and quality of support and care. We have introduced a wide ranging self-care programme to enable volunteers to look after themselves and avoid feeling overwhelmed.

These include a confidential listening support service, creative writing, and building resilience workshops. This Giving Tuesday, please help TCF to assist our volunteers in supporting bereaved parents and siblings by making a donation.

• £10 - will pay for admin around the setting up of a creative writing workshop

• £25 - will pay for 30 minutes of online training for our helpline volunteers