Integrating mental health and bereavement support and its outcomes

When we think of mental health, we think of our emotional, psychological and social wellbeing affecting what we think, feel and act. For those affected by terminal illness, these feelings can be amplified. 

Back in 2010 we developed a sister service to complement the care and support we provided at Saint Michael’s Hospice. We called this service Just ‘B’, recognising the expertise we had – and continue to have – and the need for specialist bereavement and mental health support linked to hospice care. In 2019, both services came together with Herriot Hospice Homecare to form our registered charity. 

Today, Just ‘B’ supports thousands of children, young people and adults each year – in North Yorkshire and beyond – whether connected to our hospice care or not. In recent years, it has established itself as a standalone service as part of our wider charity. 

Mental health support has close ties with the hospice ethos and its holistic approach, treating and supporting the whole person – whether that be physically, emotionally or socially. It enriches the hospice care offer for those affected by terminal illness, who might have increased emotional wellbeing and mental health needs – whether that be through grief, trauma or something else. 

Mental health affects people and their families both in life and in death – something that my team see each and every day. Having Just ‘B’ as part of our family of services means we can support people, and their families and friends, before, during and after someone close to them has died. 

This support has never been more crucial. On the back of the COVID-19 pandemic and the growing end of life care and mental health needs in our communities, we’re positioned to provide this care and support through a unique family of services. 

This is only compounded by research. According to the UK Commission on Bereavement, 1.2 million people died during 2020 and 2021 across England and Wales, with a further 130,000 in Scotland and 35,000 in Northern Ireland. This caused an estimated 3 million people experiencing bereavement - an additional 750,000 bereavements across the UK, based on the five year average from 2015-2019 [1]. 

And in England alone, 18% of children aged 7-16 had a probable mental disorder in 2022 – up by almost a third from 2017 [2].

Alongside the impact this integration has on the communities we serve, it has also opened strategic opportunities for increased funding – something we know is more important than ever for sustainability – and a chance to increase our reach in line with our mission to do as much as we can, for as many as we can, for as long as we can. 

Some examples of the way we’ve done this through Just ‘B’ include contracted emotional wellbeing support in North Yorkshire schools, crisis response to sudden deaths in our local areas, and specialist funded services regionally and nationally – such as our frontline emotional wellbeing and bereavement support for emergency service workers during the pandemic. 

Via Just ‘B’, we’ve also more recently been working with police, fire and ambulance services to provide specialist support, as well as domestic violence and sexual abuse counselling via our local authority.

Another way this close link benefits our wider hospice community is, via working together with Hospice UK, supporting the mental health and emotional wellbeing needs of our dedicated, passionate hospice workforce across the UK. 

We know our clinical professionals in hospices are regularly exposed to death and dying, alongside other issues such as workload, hours and stress. This can take its toll. So we are piloting a service to provide telephone support for clinical staff working in hospices - providing bereavement, resilience and emotional wellbeing support in a timely manner to those who need it. 

Find out more about how to access the service. Please do pass this information on to anyone you feel would benefit from knowing about it.

This model isn’t an entirely unique one – and many hospice services provide bereavement support. However, the impact a joined-up model of bereavement and mental health support has made together with our hospice services – and separately – has been enormous in our local communities, supporting thousands of people when they most need it. 

And this support is only growing. An example of this is via Herriot Hospice Homecare’s first hospice building – Herriot Hospice@The Lambert. This facility, which has only been made possible by supporters and volunteers, is integrating Just ‘B’s specialist bereavement and emotional wellbeing support alongside inpatient and outpatient hospice services in the same building – opening up this support to even more geographical communities. 

We know the impact our sector has on the people we serve, and the importance of the choice we provide. We’re pleased this model has allowed us to reach even more people – with linked care and support needs or not – when it’s most needed. After all, that is our reason for being.

Tony Collins OBE is the Chief Executive of North Yorkshire-based Herriot Hospice Homecare and Saint Michael’s Hospice. Alongside its hospice services, the charity also supports its communities with emotional wellbeing and bereavement support via Just ‘B’. Tony has worked in the hospice sector for over three decades, and also serves on the Board of Hospice UK as Deputy Chair.

1. UK Commission on Bereavement. Bereavement is everyone’s business: 2022 report. [Internet]. UK Commission on Bereavement; 2022 [cited 2024 Nov 22].
2. NHS England. Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2022 - wave 3 follow up to the 2017 survey. NHS England; 2022 [cited 2024 Nov 21].