sorgcenter5.jpg

Danish National Center for Grief

Danish National Center for Grief

 
 

The National Grief Center fights every day to ensure that grief does not destroy life. The organisation offers e.g. specialised psychological treatment, researches grief and runs the nation-wide phone line ‘Sorglinjen’.

To become a volunteer you must have lost your father, mother, sibling, child or partner and have processed the grief in order to be a positive example of, that life goes on. As a voluntary, my responsibility was to handle “Sorglinjen” by answering phone calls from users who have lost or knows a seriously ill person.

In addition, I was a group leader for a conversation group for young adults, who had lost a father or a mother. The conversation group was held over 12 weeks.

 
 

My role: voluntary
Company: ​Danish National Center for Grief
TIME period: October 2018 - august 2020

 
 

‘Sorglinjen’

At ‘Sorglinjen’, you can talk or write to one of the volunteers. There are both young and elderly volunteers on ‘Sorglinjen’, and what they have in common is that they themselves have lost a loved one and want to listen and share their hard-earned experiences with the caller. They have all been through some of the same experiences and feelings as the user, but have learned to live with the grief in a good way.

As a volunteer, I have spoken to children who had lost their mother or father (or both!) and who were in very difficult situations and suddenly became adults at a premature age.

I have spoken to elderly people who had lost their life partner and who could no longer find meaning in being alone, or did not dare to ask for help from the outside world.

I have talked to people who have lost to suicide and alcohol.

I have spoken to children and young people who have lost a parent to a sudden cardiac arrest and long-term illness, who tore at the memory of a healthy mother/father.

All those conversations made me not just appreciating life and good health in genereal, but also strong in vulnerable conversations, not afraid of silence, and asking those questions that no one else dare to ask.

 
 

Conversation group

As a volunteer I was asked to facilitate conversation groups for young adults (18-28 years) over 12 weeks. The young people had either lost a father or a mother (or both).

I organised different topics for each group session and facilitated the conversation. Topics could be the cause of death (long term illness or sudden), day of death, funeral, holidays and new traditions, friends, everyday life etc. The topics and conversations were often a catalyst to teers, caring for details and clear memories.

Besides being a living example of that life goes on, and that I recognised their feelings, I also helped them talking about grief by taking a step back and view it from the outside, by taking the feelings out of it and talking about grief as a ‘thing’.

It was clear that 12 weeks of talking to peers helped and developed the young people, and I was so, so proud of them!

“Som frivillig har Nina været en meget vigtig kapacitet i Det Nationale Sorgcenter. Både i mødet med de brugere, der benytter den landsdækkende Sorglinje og ikke mindst gennem sit engagement som samtalegruppeleder.

Nina er en engageret frivillig. Hun har en stor ansvarsfølelse og møder nye udfordringer med gåpåmod og nysgerrighed. I mødet med husets brugere har Nina vist sig at være god til at italesætte svære følelser og til at skabe tillid i kontakten med andre mennesker. Nina udviser en meget fin grad af empati, hvilket er et uundværligt redskab i mødet med brugere, som har komplicerede tab.

På baggrund af ovenstående kan jeg på det varmeste anbefale Nina.”

Ole Eriksen Chefkonsulent,
Leder af Frivillighed, Psykoterapeut, Det Nationale Sorgcenter.