Advice needed regarding bereavement counselling

[Napiergal]

Hi I'm new to this forum and would appreciate a little advice. I'm a shared lives carer for a 39 Yr old gentleman with Downs syndrome.

Two years ago his Mum passed away after losing her battle with cancer. He is clearly still grieving for his Mum and struggling tremendously in lots of ways.

I'm trying to find out what support is available to him as he clearly needs bereavement counselling, but I can't seem to find out what bereavement support is available to those with learning disabilities.

Can anyone help?

[dessey02]

Does he have a community nurse she should be able to sign post you. There us also a really good set of easy read books available about cancer and death from cancer if you Google easy read cancer ypu should find the link.

[Napiergal in reply to dessey02]

He has been referred to the LD team and is dealing with the LD nurse. His grief is manifesting into behavioural and anger issues so they are helping him work through those. He was referred to Minds matter but I don't believe they are able to deal with those with a LD, as I went through Minds matter with a lady I previously cared for but she didn't have the capacity to understand the questions on their initial questionnaires. So it was a waste of time.

[Picklebum]

Hi nice to see another shared lives carer on here nice to see

I believe a hospice does bereavement counselling and it’s very gd

[Napiergal in reply to Picklebum]

Hi there.. Can I ask you where you are based? Do the hospices do bereavement counselling for those with LD?

[Picklebum in reply to Napiergal]

I’m way down south as far as I know they do but if not they could I’m sure redirect you x

[Napiergal in reply to Picklebum]

Sorry sent too soon! Yes it's nice to see a Shared Lives carer too. How long have you been a SL carer?

[Picklebum in reply to Napiergal]

Hi about 18 myhs but had the same young person since very small

[Picklebum]

Months

[Sarah_Mencap]

Hello there

I'm not sure if you seen it but there is quite a lot of info on Mencap's website about this - mencap.org.uk/advice-and-su...

Marie Curie have a great easy read - mariecurie.org.uk/help/supp...

There are also some good videos about, like this from Dying Matters:

youtube.com/watch?time_cont...

All of these are great, but it sounds like he might need grief counselling. His GP might be a good place to ask about this.

Cruse may also be worth contacting - cruse.org.uk/ They have a helpline and local services. I couldn't find anything specifically about learning disabilities on there but it would be worth asking. They offer bereavement counselling.

Best wishes

Sarah

[sister1992]

Hi there - did you ever find any support for bereavement and LD?