Holy Trinity, Huddersfield
Rev’d Helen Jones, Curate, Holy Trinity Church, Huddersfield
It was a huge privilege to run The Bereavement Journey® for the first time in January 2024. Preparation work recommended by AtaLoss, ensured I caught the vision for the missional focus of the programme, to present God’s love and be a very real support to people experiencing the heartbreak of bereavement.
I was able to recruit a fabulous team, including a lady who had helped on the course the previous year.
We started to promote The Bereavement Journey 6 weeks in advance, and spoke about it at our Christmas memorial service, where 3 people booked on. We encouraged our church members to tell their friends and families, and we also sent flyers and information to GP surgeries, local churches, social prescribers, hospital chaplains, bereavement teams, and funeral directors.
We were delighted to have 16 people book onto the course – 7 of whom had no connection with any church. We expected several people to drop out, but by the end of the course we still had 12 people attending each week, which was fantastic. Regular contact and building strong relationships before the event was a key to its success.
Running the course itself was truly profound. For me personally, it resonated with God’s heart cry to bind up the broken-hearted, to comfort those who mourn and bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes (Isaiah 61:1-3). Each session ended with a short prayer. One man commented that he rarely talks in groups, but felt compelled to take part and share openly, and that the course helped him process the daily anger and sadness he was feeling over the loss of both his parents.
The overall feedback from The Bereavement Journey was truly humbling to read. Many wished that there were more weeks in the course and more time for conversations.
Some feedback quotes were really encouraging:
‘You couldn’t have done any more to make me feel so cared for, thank you very much, it was such a safe environment.’
‘Many thanks for your time and commitment to this wonderful course.’
‘A huge thank you to you and the team for providing such a valuable and precious course over the last 7 weeks. It’s been a huge help to me since losing my dad and I’ll certainly miss that specifically carved out time on a Tuesday. Thank you so very much for all your care and attention to detail whilst delivering this course. What a blessing it’s been.’
The group were keen to keep in touch once the course had ended, having shared so deeply with one another, so we have held a couple of reunions, which were well attended.
We also invited participants to take part in the social events of the church such as Café Connect and the walking group, as well as letting them know they would be welcome to join us for a service any time.
In summary, the Church has a real opportunity through the programme to meet bereaved people’s needs and offer a hand of friendship and support. We are all really looking forward to running the course again in 2025!