About AtaLoss Charity
Going through bereavement will challenge every person, no matter what stage in your life you are at. It is part of nature and life. Even though everyone faces this, it is not talked about and often, no one knows quite what to say. You can often feel isolated and alone when dealing with the loss of a loved one. The help is out there, but how do you find it?
AtaLoss is a bereavement charity, that helps you find the support you need. It wants to change the culture on how we talk and deal with grief, but to also encourage more people to support the bereaved effectively. It is a one stop shop website that categorises who you've lost, circumstance of death, age of person needing support and your location. This filters through hundreds of bereavement charities and services to find you one that is relevant to your circumstance and needs.
This kind of categorising is extremeley important. If you're feeling alone and want to talk, the last thing you want is to be searching through the internet or to wait for a GP appointment.
This service allows people to easily access the support that is out there, but also support that is personalised.
If you're distressed or very upset and need immediate help, then Ataloss provides a Grief Chat service. The service was created by bereavement experts, and you can chat directly to a specially trained bereaavement counsellor. The counsellors are experienced in supporting bereaved people ad will listen to your story, explore how your grief is affecting you and help you to find any additional support you might need.
GriefChat is a completley free service and is available Monday-Friday, 9am – 9pm, or by email out of these hours. Sometimes people need to talk to someone outside of your friends and family network, so this service provides emotional support to anyone who so desperatley needs it.
As a society, we are not good at talking to people about grief. We all go through it, but tend to use common sayings like “time is a healer,” in the hope that this will make the person feel better. However, more often than not, it doesn't.
One of the ways AtaLoss are trying to combat this, is to provide a service called ListeningPeople. ListeningPeople trains volunteers to support bereaved teenagers through loss in youth groups and schools. School staff do not have the time to to give quality time to a distressed student. This service is a proven way to take the pressure off staff and begin to make a real difference. AtaLoss provides training and consultancy for churches and youth organisations, that want to be better equipped to listen to young people.
AtALoss also provides programmed such as GrabLife, which is an activity support weekend for bereaved 18-30 year olds. There is also bereavement support for men, which are social gatherings and peer support.
If you want to get involved with AtaLoss please visit www.ataloss.org
