• Professional Development
  • Medicine & Nursing
  • Arts & Crafts
  • Health & Wellbeing
  • Personal Development

194 Educators providing Courses

HOPE Bereavement Support Group CIC

hope bereavement support group cic

HOPE Bereavement Support began in 2013 when the visionary and founder, Ansa, realised that there needed to be a place of safety and inclusion for all mothers who had sadly lost a baby to miscarriage, stillbirth or at any other stage of their child’s life. What was sorely needed was an accessible place where everyone would be able to find comfort and support for their loss; not feel alone or ostracised. She had a vision where everybody – regardless of age, sex, religion, ethnicity or any other difference – had the ability to access mental health and emotional support for their loss. Ansa’s ambition came from a painful journey; she is the proud mother of 9 rainbow children. Her determination to succeed grew after she struggled to find a suitable support group after her losses. During her healing process she became more empowered and went back to study, changing her career path to become a qualified and registered counsellor and Training Consultant. There was at that time very limited multi-lingual counselling services available, and furthermore, it was very expensive and the clinical models applied did not feel culturally diverse or sensitive to BME therapeutic needs. HOPE Bereavement Support initially started with three trustees (the founder, a secretary and a treasurer) as a small constituted community group in Leeds, setting up bereavement support groups run by befrienders and volunteers for women and families to meet after suffering the loss of a child. Over 7 years on, the organisation is now running support services in Leeds, Bradford and London and specialises in all types of bereavement. We have a team of over 30 people consisting of qualified counsellors, coaches, an occupational therapist, clinical supervisors and many befrienders and volunteers. All staff members are based nationally in different parts of the UK working together remotely. Our services: Counselling Coaching Bereavement support groups Mental health and emotional wellbeing resilience workshops Educational and awareness building workshops Training and consultancy Research Media We also have service delivery partnership projects with Touchstone Staff Counselling and Touchstone ‘Blossom’ (Female Genital Mutilation) counselling: https://touchstonesupport.org.uk/ Our CEO Ansa E Ahmed has been nominated for the Positive Role Model (Race, Faith and Religion) Award at the National Diversity Awards 2021 “I was overwhelmed by receiving this nomination for the award, however, I feel and I believe that my HOPE team and organisation are well-deserved of this nomination and that this will be the first of many to come because we are a blackled organisation aiming to fulfil the short-comings in our national services in providing better health outcomes for our black communities nationwide. As the founder and CEO of HOPE services I feel very proud and overwhelmed with how much support, passion and dedication I have found in the people who have joined my organisation. When speaking and networking with other third sector and national organisations and their leaders, I was gratefully humbled for the respect given to our organisation in terms of what HOPE has to offer in fulfilling the need of our BAME communities access to mental health services in their own languages, and with our culturally inclusive person-centred approach towards each individual who accesses our services. Furthermore, I do not believe there is any other organisation that has achieved what we have in a short time as a Community Interest Company (CIC). This again is a testimony to the great BAME leaders from my board of directors, managers, supervisors and clinical practitioners that for me as a black leader I am proud to have alongside me as a driving force for HOPE. It feels like a lifetime ago when my career changed from the corporate field of working in the banking industry for 15 years of my life, I was able with my initiative and work ethic dedication to move up the management ladder to a customer service focused area manager role. So, therefore leading, motivating, coaching others from a leadership role comes very natural to me in my skill set as a CEO, but what really drives me is the passion and belief in compassion for all of humanity and this makes my job as CEO of HOPE very rewarding. From a personal development aspect I feel a winner as I am not only helping and giving back to my communities in the services that we provide in HOPE but also that I am helping my fellow BAME professionals nationwide who choose to join HOPE in their journey and development in furthering their career as BAME leaders within their respective fields of works. It has always been my mission statement as an individual and now as the head of the HOPE organisation that where possible I want to fight against stigma, shame, prejudice and racism in all its forms always with a heart full of compassion, love for humanity and kindness for all. I believe that true leadership is leading by example but also alongside helping your aspiring leaders. Your vote for me and HOPE would mean so much to us all, thank you 🙂 ”