Provincial Grief and Bereavement Initiative:
The Provincial Bereavement Network
What is the Provincial Bereavement Network?
The Provincial Bereavement Network is a network of professionals and volunteers from across the province who work together to provide services and supports to grieving individuals and families. It is about people helping people and communities helping communities through the sharing of resources, supports and networking. It is about building capacity through partnerships within communities and between communities. In its ongoing work to support grieving families the GBC has partnered with law enforcement agencies, the government, victim services, schools, funeral service providers, health care professionals and health organizations to build this Network.
The continued success of the Provincial Bereavement Network depends on the continued growth of these grass-roots partnerships and the development of new partnerships with the government and organizations. Through the ongoing development and work of the Provincial Bereavement Network Saskatchewan can lead the way in bereavement care.
The Goal of the Provincial Bereavement Network:
The goal of the Provincial Bereavement Network is to ensure that all Saskatchewan families have access to the grief and bereavement supports they need. In order to reach this goal and to identify the grief and bereavement support needs in the province, individuals, both professional and volunteer, as well as organizations in communities from all across the province have been engaged in discussions.
The discussions revealed that there is a lot of amazing grief and bereavement support work happening in the province and the people providing the supports need to be commended. The discussions also identified some gaps in supports and three key priorities that need to be focused on.
- There is a provincial demand for bereavement training and education for professionals and volunteers;
- There is an overall need for enhanced grief supports and services;
- There is a need for a provincial bereavement services directory.
Through the Provincial Bereavement Network, the Greystone Bereavement Centre is working with organizations, professionals and volunteers to address the grief and bereavement needs of Saskatchewan families.
The Provincial Bereavement Advisory Committee:
The Provincial Bereavement Advisory Committee is a diversified group of trained professionals, volunteers and community members from across the Province who have come together to develop quality grief education and training and services in Saskatchewan. The Advisory Committee is a think tank on grief and bereavement issues in the Province with a focus on addressing those issues.
The Provincial Bereavement Advisory Committee is an advocate for awareness and a basic understanding of grief and bereavement in all communities. The Committee advocates for grief and bereavement education at all academic levels from elementary school to post-secondary through to current professionals and volunteers.
The Mission of the Provincial Advisory Committee is to facilitate the development of sustainable grief and bereavement resources throughout the Province with a particular emphasis on rural Saskatchewan.
The Provincial Bereavement Advisory Committee is many small voices who have come together as one large voice to advocate for the bereaved and grieving people of Saskatchewan.