An evaluation of Time to Share Bereavement Services

Context: Health and Society Knowledge Exchange (HASKE), at the University of Cumbria, was commissioned by Time to Share Bereavement Services to conduct an evaluation of their service and the specialist therapeutic bereavement support they provide to children/young people and their families in the Copeland district of Cumbria. The aim of this evaluation was to understand the experiences of two key groups of service users - the parents/carers and young people - along with the experiences of the organisations who had commissioned the bereavement support. Methodology: This evaluation involved three stages of data collection: • Semi-structured interviews with nine parents/carers of children who had been supported by Time to Share; • Semi-structured interviews with three young people about their experiences of accessing bereavement support; and • Semi-structured interviews with four service commissioners who had commissioned the bereavement support for children within their schools. Summary of findings: • The findings show that Time to Share Bereavement Services are providing timely, personalised and compassionate specialist therapeutic bereavement support for children/young people and their families across the Copeland district of Cumbria.