People who have suffered a bereavement are invited to a new Comfort Café in Cockermouth, designed to give them a space to help them deal with their grief. The initiative is being organised by the befriending charity Linking Lives Cockermouth and the town’s Churches Together group. The weekly sessions will be facilitated by Karen Dutton, a registered nurse who led an earlier project called Let’s Talk Bereavement.
The Comfort Café sessions will take place fortnightly at Christ Church’s community hall in South Street, on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month, from 10.30am to 12.30pm.
There’s no set format – this will simply be a place to socialise, share, have a hot drink and a chat.
Terry Peate is one of the co-ordinators at Linking Lives Cockermouth and he said: “Our charity’s aim is always about improving quality of life through friendship and the new Comfort Café will be an extension of the befriending service and social activities we already offer in and around Cockermouth.
“A lot of the people we work with already are lonely because of bereavement and we know the impact this has on both their mental and physical health. We want to bring even more people together, in warm and friendly surroundings, so they can navigate their grief journeys together. There’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach to dealing with bereavement so hopefully the group setting will mean that everyone who attends will get what they need from being around people in similar situations.”
Karen Dutton was the project lead for the two-year Let’s Talk Bereavement scheme in north Cumbria. It began by delivering training in bereavement support skills, expanding into different areas including helping those who’ve lost loved ones to suicide, and caring for children who are grieving.
It was as part of this work that Karen identified the need for local ‘grief cafes’. She said: “We know that grief is universal – we all encounter it at some point – but the impact it has on us is as unique as we are.
“There is a clear need for low level bereavement support in our communities and that’s where the Comfort Café comes in. It will ensure people have a place to go to socialise with people who understand what they are going through – and to signpost them to other specialist services like counselling if that would help them. Everyone’s grief will be different but this gives them support to make sense of what has happened so they can adjust to life without the person who has died.
“The most important thing to stress is you are never alone.”
All are welcome at the new Cockermouth Comfort Café and it is free to attend. For more information email cockermouthcomfortcafe@linkinglives.uk or call 07971506225.
