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Grief During the Festive Season – A Peer Support Workshop
Facilitated by Compassionate Sheffield
The festive season can be an especially challenging time when we’re grieving. You're not alone.
Whether it’s your first year without your loved one or your twentieth, you’re warmly welcome to join this free online peer support workshop.
Together, we’ll explore gentle ways to care for ourselves, make space for grief, and stay connected to those we’ve lost. This is a supportive space to share our thoughts, listen to others, and gather ideas for navigating the “season of cheer” while grieving.
What to expect
The workshop, facilitated by Compassionate Sheffield, will include:
• A warm welcome and group agreement for creating a safe, respectful space
• Open, supportive discussion with gentle prompts and reflection
• Shared ideas for planning ahead, caring for ourselves, and staying connected to our loved ones
There’s no pressure to speak, you’ll be welcome to simply listen, reflect, and participate in whatever way feels right for you. You’ll be welcome to have your camera turned on or off.
Our hope
We aim for everyone to leave feeling:
• Supported and less alone in their grief
• Heard and understood
• Reassured that there’s no “right” way to grieve during the festive season
• Equipped with new ideas for self-care and connection
Workshop Dates
Workshops are free but spaces are limited. Please book one date only.
If your plans change, kindly cancel your place so we may offer it to someone else.
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Mon 24th November – 7:00pm–8:30pm
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Weds 26th November – 10:30am–12:00pm
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Fri 5th December – 1:00pm–2:30pm
Where: Online
Who: For any adult, in Sheffield, who has experienced a bereavement, at any time.
(Please note, this is for individuals experiencing grief, and not for professionals to attend in a work capacity)
Cost: Free
Booking: Via the link below - Please note - the booking form will be updated when a session is fully booked.
Facilitated by: Cally Bowman (She/Her) from the Compassionate Sheffield Team. Cally is a qualified therapeutic counsellor with experience delivering peer bereavement support groups and facilitating conversations around grief, mental health and loss.
Please note, this workshop provides a space for peer bereavement support, but does not offer a space for group therapy or counselling.
Feedback from attendees
Those who attended these workshops last year shared feedback such as:
“It was a really good session and I really benefitted from it. I’ve been trying to ignore Christmas but it's getting closer and that has been filling me with fear. This session really helped me rationalise things a bit more and has given me some good strategies to help. Cally is so lovely and supportive”
“The session has helped me enormously, through a shared experience and more importantly, a shared understanding of the feeling of grief from death, added to the additional feelings of grief at festive times. The coping mechanisms and ideas will help me a lot going forward. I feel I have benefitted emotionally by taking part.”
[I had]“Feelings of being uplifted and encouraged by Cally as facilitator and the other attendees. Listening to others experiences and thoughts is really helpful.”
Questions
If you have any questions about the workshops, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. You can find our contact details on our contact page.
Further Resources
We've created some further resources and sign posting that you can access or share with others.
Please see details below and feel free to download and share with anyone you know who may find them helpful. You may wish to digitally share these, or print them to display within your organisation or service.
Coping with Grief During the Festive Season Resource
This resource describes some of the gentle ways to prepare for and care for yourself in the lead up to and during the festive season. It is designed as an A4 flyer/poster and can be downloaded and shared digitally.
Accessing Support During the Festive Season Resource
This 2 page resource contains information to sign post people to local and national support for grief, bereavement and mental health and wellbeing support. It is designed as an A4 flyer/poster and can be downloaded and shared digitally.
Workshop Poster
If you'd like to share or print and display the poster for the above workshops within Sheffield, you're very welcome to do so. Please open and download the poster linked below.