What Needs to Happen?
Clear recognition of the impact of bereavement is needed. Commitment and funding to apply a public health approach to address this, with adequate supports and information, is essential. These resources must be applied at a community level, available for people when grieving or supporting someone grieving (levels 1 & 2 on the pyramid). As part of this approach, equal access to supports and services is also crucial for those in need of more specialised bereavement care (levels 3 & 4). Adequate data to understand the wide-ranging impacts of bereavement on the Irish population - from social to financial – is essential. There is a responsibility to support all employees who are bereaved. Every workplace should have an appropriate bereavement policy with adequate leave, supports and other entitlements. There is currently no statutory entitlement to bereavement leave in Ireland , which means there is no legal obligation for employers to provide employees with bereavement leave. The impact of bereavement should be formally recognised as a significant life event and supported accordingly through the introduction of statutory bereavement leave for all workplaces.
How Irish Hospice Foundation is Making a Difference
IHF is working to empower the community to consciously support grieving adults and children and advocate for additional support for those who need it. • We ensure that adult and child Bereavement Care Pyramids are used to effectively deliver the relevant grief supports to people as they need them, through our campaigns, training, networks, grants and advocacy. • We advocate for a national framework for bereavement care, drawing on our bereavement care pyramids for adults and children. • We work to help people understand why some people have poorer grief outcomes, highlighting psychological, social and economic risk factors. • We work with policymakers and workplaces to make Grief in the Workplace a priority issue. • We operate our Bereavement Support Line, providing a freephone service for people wishing to talk about loss.
It is essential that everyone that calls Ireland home has the opportunity to achieve a good death. That requires a set of supports, and systems and services that are wide ranging and effective. It is clear from this report that there is a need for urgent action on this. Irish Hospice Foundation is actively working to deliver and advocate for improvements in all areas of dying, death and bereavement.
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Irish Hospice Foundation
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