Funeral directors sponsor new bereavement guide
Penhaligon’s Friends – the Cornish charity that supports grieving children and young people, parents and carers throughout the county – has joined forces with the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) to develop a new resource for bereaved families.
The NAFD represents the vast majority of UK funeral directors and through Perfect Choice, its pre-arranged funeral plans division, has sponsored a new handbook for parents and carers who are helping children deal with their emotions in the early stages of bereavement, the period in which they are most in need of support.
Entitled Remember Me Always, the A5 size, 28-page booklet explains how to approach difficult subjects, including breaking bad news, funerals, viewing the deceased, burial and cremation, and incorporates numerous sources of additional information.
The NAFD commissioned the booklet after research studies with bereaved parents – undertaken both by Penhaligon’s Friends itself and Cornwall’s Primary Care Trust – showed they received most help from funeral directors who have ready access to the latest information and advice.
“Remember Me Always is the fourth in a series of user friendly guides that Penhaligon’s Friends has produced over the past few years to assist schools, healthcare professionals and the clergy,” says Marcus Wilkinson, director of Penzance funeral director Alfred Smith & Son, which is a member of the NAFD, and a trustee of Penhaligon’s Friends.
“Authors Alice Allsworth and Wendy Ball both work for Penhaligon’s Friends and have drawn on their personal experiences as well as the research they carried out for the other books in the series. Although the charity is based in Cornwall, the information contained in the guides benefits a much wider audience and we now send out the first two books to people all over the world.”
Remember Me Always was launched at the National Association of Funeral Directors’ conference in Newquay on May 9 and the booklet is now being distributed nationally through members of the Association, who will hand it out when they make contact with families to discuss funeral arrangements. It is also available through the charity’s online shop at www.penhaligonsfriends.org.uk
