Shadow Into LightCreative intervention in

bereavement

What help is available following bereavement?

Little from the National Health Service that is specific for bereaved people

Waiting list locally for bereavement counselling was several months long

Physical and mental health problems that can follow bereavement

Increased rates of physical illness including heart attacks, strokes, cancer, accidents, suicide and infections

Increased risk of sleep problems, distress, depression, anxiety and other psychological symptoms

Increased risk of mortality for the bereaved person

Funding came from

The Rayne Foundation, which aspires to understand and engage with the needs of UK society

The Quartet Community Foundation, an independent charity which funds projects that improve people’s lives across the West of England

Shadow Into Light aimed to help people

Access unexpressed emotions using art and poetry

Articulate feelings about their grief

Develop new coping mechanisms and new skills

Build new supportive friendships

Research/evaluation side of Shadow Into Light

Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale

Texas Revised Inventory of Grief

Completed by all participants before and at the end of the course, and again three months later