COVID-19 Bereavement Conference 2020

Alison Penny, Director, Childhood Bereavement Network. Coordinator, National Bereavement Alliance.The bereavement sector’s responses to the challenges of the pandemic – What further support is needed by families and by services

Alison is Director of the Childhood Bereavement Network, the hub for those working with bereaved children and young people across the UK. She is also Project Coordinator of the National Bereavement Alliance, a strategic collaboration of organizations and individuals working with bereaved people in England. She keeps the sector updated with relevant developments, and helps the field to develop consensus on key policy and practice topics, contributing to gains in national policy in bereaved people’s interests. Alison has a particular interest in supporting bereavement services to demonstrate the effectiveness of their work and is taking this forward as a PhD. She is an editor of the peer-review journal Bereavement Care and a member of the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement.

Professor Andrew Reeves, Associate Professor in the Counselling Professions and Mental Health, Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy (Advance HE), Fellow, British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy Personal and Professional Reflections on Covid-19 Loss and Grief

Dr. Andrew Reeves is a Professor in the Counselling Professions and Mental Health, a BACP Senior Accredited Counsellor/Psychotherapist and a Registered Social Worker.

His practice experience spans over 35 years, when he first trained as a Samaritans volunteer at 18, before moving into social and work therapy. His research focus in working with risk in therapy, having experienced the suicide of a client during his training. Since then, he was published extensively in this area. He is previous Editor-in-Chief of Counselling and Psychotherapy Research journal, past-Chair of BACP and is Chair of the York St John Advisory Board Counselling and Mental Health Research Clinic. He supervises mostly doctoral research in counselling, psychotherapy and psychological trauma.

Andy Langford, Clinical Director, Cruse Bereavement Care UK. The responses of CRUSE to the Covid Pandemic.

Andy Langford is Clinical Director for Cruse Bereavement Support, the UK’s largest bereavement support charity. Andy has worked in the voluntary sector for over 25 years, within bereavement, suicide risk management, multiple needs, prison services, mental health and substance misuse. He is a currently practicing qualified Integrative Counsellor, Clinical Supervisor, Life Coach and Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, and has an MSc in Voluntary Sector Management.

Andy Langford is also a post-graduate researcher with the Open University, focusing on telephone bereavement support.

Deborah Lewis, founder, Covid19 Families UK.Supporting Covid families on social media.

Deborah lost her Mum to cancer in the Autumn of 2019, and her Dad to Covid-19 in the Spring of 2020.
Since then, she has worked tirelessly to set up regional groups on social media, both to support the bereaved and to publicise the plight of those affected by the pandemic.

Dr. Divine Charura is a full Professor of Counselling Psychology at York St John University (England). He is a Chartered Psychologist, and Counselling Psychologist with the British Psychological Society. He is registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council in England. Divine is also an Honorary Fellow of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy and an Adult Psychotherapist.

Divine’s psychotherapeutic interests are in exploring the therapeutic relationship when working with, loss, diversity, psychological distress, Trauma, love, relationships and their impact of on being. Divine has co-authored and edited numerous books in counselling, psychology and psychotherapy. These include Love and Therapy: In Relationship [co-edited with Stephen Paul] and with Colin Lago has co-edited the following books The Person-Centred Counselling and Psychotherapy Handbook: Origins, Developments and Current Applications and Black Identities + White therapies: Race respect and diversity.

Divine is a lover of photography, art, music and outdoor pursuits.

Dr Emily Harrop is a Marie Curie Research Associate and social scientist at the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Centre, Cardiff University. She has led on several recent studies in bereavement care and is Co-Principal Investigator on a UK wide mixed methods study looking at Bereavement during the Covid-19 pandemic.

PHD,Professor of Clinical Psychology, Columbia University

Professor Bonanno received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1991. His research and scholarly interests have centred on the question of how human beings cope with loss, trauma and other forms of extreme adversity, with an emphasis on resilience and the salutary role of flexible coping and emotion regulatory processes. Professor Bonanno’s recent empirical and theoretical work has focused on defining and documenting adult resilience

in the face of loss or potential traumatic events, and on identifying the range of psychological and contextual variables that predict both psychopathological and resilient outcomes. In 2019, he received lifetime achievement awards from both the Association for Psychological Science (APS) and the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA). His most recent book is The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tells us about Life After Loss (2009 Basic Books).

Jamie Brown joined the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK team shortly after his father passed away on the 29th March.

Jo Goodman, Founder, Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK.Stories of Loss, Campaigning for Justice.

Jo founded Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice after the death of her Dad Stuart from Covid-19. She is joined today by Matt Jamie and Leshie, all of whom lost their fathers to Covid-19.

Leshie Chandrapala is a member of Covid-19 Beareaved Families for Justice. She lost her Dad, Ranjith Chandrapala, who was a London bus driver, on 03 May. Leshie has been campaigning for safe working environments for bus drivers and justice for those bus drivers who died during the pandemic.

Dr Lucy Selman is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, where she co-leads the Palliative and End of Life Care Research Group. Her research over the last 15 years has focussed on people’s experiences of serious illness, the end of life and bereavement, and how to improve care in these domains. She is also the founder of Good Grief, a public festival about grief, loss and bereavement which launched in October 2020.

Matt Fowler is Co-Founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice. Following the loss of his father Ian (56) in April, he felt that support for the bereaved was severely lacking, and with Jo, aimed to create a support community for others like them. Matt works in manufacturing for Jaguar Land Rover and is studying for an engineering degree.

Bereavement Service Coordinator St Christopher’s Hospice.Adapting our bereavement service to the changing COVID-19 environment

Paul Parsons is the Adult Bereavement Service Co-ordinator at St Christopher’s Hospice and co-ordinates the London Boroughs of Bromley and Lewisham Bereavement Services. Paul has a Diploma in Supervision as well as completing a Diploma in Trauma and PTSD. He has been supporting many clients directly and indirectly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. He has also developed and manages a Covid-19 response counselling service for a large Hospital Trust in partnership with the Hospice.

Robert A. Neimeyer, PhD is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, maintains an active consulting and coaching practice, and also directs the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition, a “university without walls” for international online training in grief therapy. Neimeyer has published 30 books, including Routledge’s series on Techniques of Grief Therapy, and serves as Editor of Death Studies. The author of over 500 articles and chapters and a popular workshop presenter, he is currently working to advance a more adequate theory of grieving as a meaning-making process. In recognition of his contributions, he has been given Lifetime Achievement Awards by both the Association for Death Education and Counseling and the International Network on Personal Meaning.

PhD, B Soc Sci (With 1st Hons), MNZAC

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