Group Sessions
What is peer support?
The CORe groups meet on Zoom. We are open and free. Participants are invited by existing members. They are hosted by a facilitator and last for an hour and a half. Each group has 20-25 participants who have or form links within themselves and continue to support each other outside of the group.
When people with similar experiences connect and support each other, it is called Peer Support. Help is offered and received through sharing and listening. It’s not about getting or giving advice. It’s about sharing emotions, the challenges of this new and unwelcome world and remembering our children in a safe and understanding environment and sometimes, having a laugh.
There is a significant body of scientific evidence to prove the benefits of peer support*.
It helps people feel less alone and re-develop their confidence in themselves and their abilities. It empowers them to bear the unbearable, build communities and grow through their trauma.
We host two groups
The groups are free and have a relatively fixed membership of 10-20 parents each. It is recommended that each member picks either the Wednesday or the Saturday meeting. This allows for the members to get to know each other over a period of time and develop a sense of friendship and belonging. We meet every alternate week on the said days on Zoom.
Timings: 5-6.30 pm (GMT)
To be invited to be a member, please fill in the ‘Contact Us’ Form. We will contact you within two or three days and schedule a phone conversation. This helps us to answer your questions directly, get to know you and your circumstances. This also helps us figure out how we may best serve you.
How they work – schedule
Once you are a member of a group, you are added to the mailing list for that group. A few days before each meeting you will receive an e-mail with the ‘Point to Ponder’ for the next meeting, which is the focus of group discussions.
The meetings start with a warm welcome and a list of ground-rules. These are essential as they maintain the safety and value of this space for all attendees. Most of the content of the meetings comes from the members. The conversations are facilitated by Sangeeta or Simon. Selected quotes, excerpts from poems, videos and pieces of music are shared, as relevant. Twenty minutes are spent in smaller breakout rooms to allow for more intimate exchanges of thoughts and ideas.
Faq’s
For parents whose child has died, from any cause at any age.
The groups are for free but 1-to-1 sessions are paid.
50 pounds an hour for individuals and 70 pounds an hour for couples.
Yes.
Fill the “Contact Us” form.
Alternate Wednesday and Saturdays (? Make a calender?)
5 – 6.30 pm (UK time)
Yes. The members meet in-person at our retreats a few times every year.
The groups are international but we are in the process of setting up a group for India. Please contact us if you need support.
Contact Us
Testimonial
I first joined Sangeeta and Simon’s Core (Circle of Remembrance) group around 18 months ago. I was eager to join a new group as I had tried some of the other support groups out there and personally had not found them helpful.
I was welcomed so warmly at my first session. I knew quite soon this was the group I wanted and had been looking for!
Read more
This group has certainly been a lifeline to me. Every 2 weeks on Wednesdays at 5.00pm (without fail) we meet on Zoom. Sangeeta and Simon always plan a topic to discuss. This is normally for us to share a little piece about our own child who we have lost. It can be, for example talking about holidays we have been on with our children or what their favourite hobby or what they enjoyed doing. I find it therapeutic to talk happy memories of my beloved daughter,Serena. Sangeeta also holds a relaxation session within the group of about 10 minutes which is lovely and calming. I find it very relaxing. We then breakout into smaller groups of about 2 or 3 where we can have more intimate discussions.
I really do look forward to these meetings and feel much better for sharing my thoughts and feelings with the other lovely parents who I have got to know well. There is no judgement at all, no telling you what you should or shouldn’t do or how to feel. Everyone has great compassion and understanding of all we go through when we lose our precious, beloved sons or daughters. Being able to talk to like-minded people and share the happy times and lovely memories of our children is such a blessing. We give each other space to talk (if you want to) and feel listened to without interruption.
I honestly don’t know how I would have coped having not met Sangeeta and Simon at a TCF retreat. It was there that I was invited to join the Core group and my life is richer to be friends with everyone on the group. We have all met up at a weekend retreat together which was awesome but that’s another story for another day lol.
Love and hugs, Bernadine (mother of Serena)
Bernadine