Support meeting for bereaved parents in Mayo next week

September often feels like the start of a new year. Summer clothes are packed away, holidays have been taken, long evenings start to shorten and schoolbags reappear.

For many it is a new beginning – a new school term, the start of college, a new career to embark upon.

But September can be a difficult month for bereaved parents. Many milestones are achieved over the month, many milestones their beloved child will never get to mark.

Anam Cara, the only organisation of its kind in Ireland with services available to all bereaved parents, will resume their face to face meetings following a short break over the summer months.

On Tuesday next, September 27, Anam Cara will hold their Mayo meeting in the TF Royal Hotel, Castlebar, at 7.15 p.m. All bereaved parents from the area are welcome, regardless of the age their child died at or the circumstances of their death. There is no need to register; just arrive on the evening at 7.15 p.m.

Sharon Vard, service manager for Anam Cara, said: “While family and friends might be good at marking the major milestones – anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas – it’s important to understand that less obvious occasions can also be hugely triggering.

“We launched Anam Cara back in 2008 in recognition of the need for a safe space for those bereaved, somewhere to let the mask drop, where others might understand what friends and family cannot.”

For more information on the support services offer by Anam Cara, call (085) 2888888, email info@anamcara.ie or visit www.anamcara.ie.