Cruse Bereavement Care
 | |
| Founded | 1959 |
|---|---|
| Type | Bereavement charity |
| Focus | Bereavement |
| Location | |
Area served | United Kingdom |
Key people | Royal Patron: Queen Elizabeth II Life President: Dr Colin Murray Parkes OBE Chief Executive: Steven Wibberley |
| Website | cruse hopeagain crusescotland cruseisleofman |
Formerly called | Cruse |
Cruse Bereavement Support and its counterpart Cruse Bereavement Care Scotland are the United Kingdom's largest bereavement charity, which provide free care and bereavement counselling to people suffering from grief.
Purpose
Cruse Bereavement Support is the UK's largest charity for bereaved people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a sister organisation in Scotland. Cruse offers face-to-face, group, telephone, email and website support to people after someone close to them has died and works to enhance society's care of bereaved people.
Cruse has a freephone national helpline (0808 808 1677) and local services throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Cruse also has a specialist website for young people, hopeagain.org.uk. Cruse services are provided by trained volunteers and are confidential and free. Cruse also provides training and consultancy for organisations and for those who may come into contact with bereaved people in the course of their work[1]
History
Founded in 1959 in Richmond upon Thames, Cruse has areas and branches across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. The first branch of Cruse Scotland opened in the late 1960s, and by the mid 1990s there were 28 branches.
The name is derived from the Old Testament story of the raising of the son of the widow of Zarephath in which the widow's cruse is caused by the prophet to supply oil.
Operations
Apart from a core of paid staff, based mainly at central office in Richmond upon Thames, services are provided mainly through locally co-ordinated groups, staffed by 5,000 trained volunteers. In 2016/7, Cruse:[2]
- Gave one-to-one help to over 30,000 people
- Helped over 3000 in groups
- Supported over 5,000 children and young people
- Responded to nearly 70,000 requests for assistance
Training
As an organisational member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, Cruse provides suitable training to all of its 5,000 bereavement support volunteers, following the rigorous code of ethics set out by BACP. Additionally, once certified, an additional 15hrs of additional training is provided per year. External training is also accredited by the National Counselling society.
Cruse also provides training and consultancy for external organisations and for those who may encounter bereaved people in the course of their work.[3]
Organisation
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (September 2011) |
- Royal Patrons: Queen Elizabeth II[4]
- Patrons: Virginia Bottomley, Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone; Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster; Graham James, Lord Bishop of Norwich; Gisela Stuart MP; Ann Cryer; Baroness Kramer of Richmond Park; Dame Jo Williams; Mark Francois, MP; Lady Hannam [4]
- Life President: Colin Murray Parkes, OBE[4]
Management
- Chief Executive: Steven Wibberley [5]
- Chief Operating Officer: Andy Langford
- Director, Cruse Wales: Janette Bourne
- Director, Cruse Northern Ireland: Paul Finnegan
References
- ^ "Cruse Bereavement Care |". www.cruse.org.uk.
- ^ "Annual review" (PDF). www.cruse.org.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ "Bereavement Training | Online Training and Workshops from Cruse Bereavement Support". www.cruse.org.uk.
- ^ a b c "Patrons | Cruse Bereavement Support". www.cruse.org.uk. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
- ^ "Senior Leadership Team | Cruse Bereavement Support". www.cruse.org.uk.
External links
- Cruse Bereavement Support
- Cruse Scotland website
- Cruse’s support website for young people, HopeAgain
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