Bereavement support during COVID-19

Sadly, during the coronavirus pandemic, many people have lost family, friends and loved ones. You may find that a colleague has experienced a berevement, and you’d like to help them. It is also possible that someone within your organisation has died, and you would like some advice on how to manage this sensitively and compassionately.

This guide from Our NHS People is designed for line managers working in the NHS who would like to support someone they work with who is grieving. It doesn’t have to be a COVID-19-related death, and includes links especially designed for helping you if someone has died as a result of suicide. People from outside of the NHS may also find it useful, although some of the links to further resources are only suitable for those currently working there.

It is broken up into multiple short sections, focusing on different areas you should think about. These include:

• taking care of your own mental wellbeing, both as a line manager and as an individual,
• guidance on what good leadership looks like,
• a list of simple dos and don’ts, and
• links to further resources to help you learn more.

You can choose to make an account on the Our NHS People site, even if you do not work for the NHS. This allows you to track your progress through this guide and many others, and lets you return to the place you left off if you have to stop part way through a section. Click here to create an account or log in. However, you do not need to make an account to access it if you’d prefer not to.

To see the full list of guides available from Our NHS People, click here.