Cruse Bereavement Care
| Founded | 1959 |
|---|---|
| Type | Bereavement charity |
| Focus | Bereavement |
| Location |
|
Area served | United Kingdom |
Key people |
Royal Patron: HM Queen Elizabeth II Life President: Dr Colin Murray Parkes OBE Chief Executive: Debbie Kerslake |
| Website |
cruse crusescotland |
Formerly called | Cruse |
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.
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.[1]
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:[1]
- Responded to 100,000 requests for assistance
- Helped 32,700 bereaved people face-to-face, including 2,500 children and young people
- Worked with over 1,700 people bereaved by suicide
- 300,000 visits were made to Cruse’s support website for young people, RD4U
Cruse is wholly reliant on public donantions to operate its services, which in 2008/9 was £3.65 million.[1]
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.[1] 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.[1]
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.
Organisation
- Royal Patrons: HM Queen Elizabeth II
- Patrons: Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone; Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster; Graham James, Bishop of Norwich; Lord Sacks, Chief Rabbi; Sir Sigmund Sternberg; Gisela Stuart MP; Baroness Tonge; Ann Cryer; Baroness Kramer; William Radice; Dame Jo Williams; Lt Gen Sir Freddie Viggers KCB, CMG, MBE, DL; Mark Francois, MP
- Life President: Dr Colin Murray Parkes OBE
Management
- Chief Executive: Debbie Kerslake
- Director of Services: Jim Glennon
- Director, Cruse Wales: Janette Bourne
- Director, Cruse Northern Ireland: Anne Townsend
- Director of Finance and Administration: James McCormack