Large crowds for Dying Matters

Dying Matters Awareness Week

The long-established Croydon family firm of funeral directors Rowland Brothers marked the national Dying Matters Awareness Week with two full-day seminars at the town’s Jurys Inn Hotel and a day-long exhibition in Croydon’s Fairfield Halls Sun Lounge, titled The Big Conversation, a Life Planning Event.

Rowland Brothers has provided funeral and other bereavement services in the Croydon area for 143 years, since the company was founded in 1873. The Awareness Week was the initiative of the National Council of Palliative Care.

Both seminars attracted large audiences of social workers, care workers, police family liaison officers, clergy and voluntary church workers, and grief and bereavement counsellors. For many, their certificated attendance counted as part of their professional studies and training.

On Tuesday, internationally renowned bereavement expert, and SAIFInsight contributor, Dr Bill Webster travelled from Canada to speak and lead discussion on ‘Grief, Crisis and Compassion’, with an emphasis on children’s grief.

Surprise attendees during the afternoon session were 10 South Korean experts in the field of anti-suicide counselling, who had heard of the Croydon event during their visit to the UK as part of Dying Matters Awareness Week.

A seminar was also led by Carole Henderson, on the subject of the Grief Recovery Method. Her Grief Recovery Institute is said to be the only organisation in the world solely dedicated to the topic of grief in all forms, not just bereavement.

The event drew members of the public and other professionals involved in the care of elderly people and those who are terminally ill, counsellors and bereavement advice givers.

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