Family Support Service
As Hospice South Auckland continues to grow we are pleased to be able to also offer new or expanded services.
What was previously the counselling/bereavement service is now known as the Family Support Service incorporating counselling, social work and spiritual care. In July, the Family Support Team hosted an open afternoon for staff to celebrate the six month anniversary of moving into the new Family Support Building. This provides new offices for counsellors and social workers, a therapeutic play area for children and a new Whanau Room for family members with a relative in the In Patient Unit. The move represents a very welcome step forward in expanding the psychosocial dimension of the palliative care service we provide.
The blessing, which was part of this celebratory gathering, captures the hopes and dreams for this service.
May this place be a shelter for all who enter here
May their hearts find peace
And may nothing destructive
Ever cross the threshold
May this be a safe place.
Full of understanding and acceptance
Where each one can be as they are
Without the need for any mask
Of pretence or image.
May this be a place of discovery,
Where the possibilities
That sleep in the depths of our being can emerge,
To deepen and refine our vision
For all that is yet to come to birth.
The Family Support team continues to work to make this building a place where those in grief can find comfort and solace, a place where tears and laughter can walk hand in hand and where patients and their family members can feel comfortable.
While bricks and mortar do not a hospice make, to the Family Support team they make a huge difference in our everyday work. We know that our good fortune is in large part due to your generosity. On behalf of the whole team I would like to say a big thank you. I hope that you, together with us, can continue to grow and develop in our service to the community.
Beryl McElroy
Family Support Team Leader/ Social Worker
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