Founded 1959 (1959) Focus Bereavement | ||
Key people Royal Patron: HM Queen Elizabeth IILife President: Dr Colin Murray Parkes OBEChief Executive: Debbie Kerslake | ||
Cruse Bereavement Care and its counterpart Cruse Bereavement Care Scotland are the United Kingdom's largest bereavement charity, which provide free care and bereavement counselling to people suffering from grief.
Contents
Purpose
Cruse Bereavement Care promotes the well-being of bereaved people and enables anyone bereaved by death to understand their grief and cope with their loss. As well providing free care to all bereaved people, the charity also offers information, support and training services to those who are looking after them.
History
Founded in 1959 in Richmond upon Thames, Cruse has areas and branches across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. The first branch of Cruse Scotland opened in the late 1960s, and by the mid 1990s there were 28 branches.
Operations
Apart from a core of paid staff, based mainly at central office in Richmond upon Thames, services are provided mainly through locally co-ordinated groups, manned by 5,000 trained volunteers. In 2010, Cruse provided:
Cruse is wholly reliant on public donations to operate its services, which in 2008/9 was £3.65 million.
Training
As an organisational member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, Cruse provides suitable training to all of its 5,700 bereavement support volunteers, following the rigorous code of ethics set out by BACP. Additionally, once certified, an additional 15hrs of additional training is provided per year. Resultantly the welfare services that Cruse provides have also been awarded a Quality Mark by Community Legal Advice.
Cruse also provides professional training on a commercial basis for other organisations, for those who may encounter bereaved people in the course of their work.