Specialist Statewide Bereavement Service

The Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement operates a Statewide Specialist Bereavement Service (SSBS) for Victoria, which is funded by the Palliative Care Program. This service commenced in August 2006.

The SSBS provides bereavement advice, consultation and clinical supervision to workers in other settings, such as Community Health Services, as well as providing specialist counselling and support groups for people with complex support needs.

As part of this service, five new counsellors will be employed in Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and Traralgon.

Contact details for the Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement are:
phone - 03 9265 2100
freecall - 1800 642 066
Practitioner Consultancy Service - 1300 858 113
Bereavement Information and Referral Service - 1300 664 786
website - www.grief.org.au

Review of Grief and Bereavement Services

The need for the SSBS was identified as part of a 2004 review of statewide grief and bereavement services funded by the Department of Human Services. The services which took part in this review were:

• The Centre for Grief Education (now the Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement)
• The National Association for Loss and Grief Victoria
• Community Bereavement Service and
• Mercy Western Grief Service

Key recommendations from the grief and bereavement review included:

• The development of a future directions policy for grief and bereavement services
• Better support for universal services, such as community health services, to provide counselling
• The creation of a new entity to provide specialist resourcing and support such as information, training, professional advice and secondary consultation to facilities already providing such help.

Implementation of review outcomes

As part of implementing the review outcomes, additional funding of $525,000 per annum was provided to community health services to expand their counselling programs. This funding was allocated based on local needs and existing services.

Following discussions with the statewide bereavement services the development and operation of the SSBS was put to public tender. The Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement was the successful tenderer.

Mercy Western Grief Services continue to provide counselling services in the western part of North and West Region. Independent of the review outcomes, the Community Bereavement Service ceased to operate. The support groups previously run by this service are now run by the Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement.

For more information, contact Amanda Bolleter at Amanda.Bolleter@dhs.vic.gov.au