Counselling Services at dove house

Living with life threatening illness, whether it is you or your loved one can be very stressful. Facing our own mortality is something most of us avoid. When individuals and families are confronted with this situation, they often try to protect each other from how it really is for them.
A counsellor, as someone outside the circle of family and friends, offers a safe and confidential space where fears, anxieties and concerns can be expressed freely.

Counselling provides an opportunity to think about, explore and make sense of what is happening in your life.

If you would like to meet and chat with a counsellor about whether or not this is for you, please phone 575 4555.

There is no cost to patients, family members and/or careers for the dove house counselling/emotional support service.

OUR SERVICES:

Individual & Couple Counselling

Individual and couple counselling is available on request or by having your health professional make a referral to dove house. Counselling sessions would usually take place at dove house.

Family meetings

Life threatening illness brings with it many thoughts, feelings and situations that can be difficult for families to deal with. Coming together with someone who is outside of the family system and who is trained to facilitate difficult conversations can enable families to grow in understanding and appreciation of each other, communicate difficult material and overcome difficulties in a way that can enhance relationships and strengthen family bonds.

Under the Oak

Throughout our lives we tell stories about the things that happen to us. Under the Oak is a dove house programme which provides you with the opportunity...

...to tell your story or part of your story

...to describe how you have grown in awareness of your inner strength and resources

...to capture the experience of your journey through illness to wellness

...to create a memory for yourself or your family

...to record how you have become aware of the positives within the experience of life threatening illness

...to develop and expand on what you have learned about life and living and how this has been a catalyst for change

The experience of life threatening illness brings with it all sorts of challenges, new awareness of both self and other, a re-ordering of priorities and the raising of many existential questions about the meaning of life and death. For those who survive, life will never be quite the same again. For those who don't, there will be a coming to terms with life as it has been in order to let go of life and engage with death.

Participation in this programme can be a way of telling the story of this journey with life threatening illness and what it has been for you. Working with a trained interviewer can support and assist you in gathering up and making sense of this experience.

You can choose to record your story on DVD, in booklet form, as a photo book. You may choose to leave a message on a card for someone special.

For more information or to register to participate please phone Lynne on 575 4555.

Bereavement Support

When you are bereaved, you have to cope with a world which seems to have fallen apart. In practical terms, your life may have changed dramatically. Your financial situation may have changed. You may be living alone for the first time. You may be faced with tasks or responsibilities you used to share with the person who died.

Yet the biggest changes are probably inside you. When someone close to you dies it can seem as though everything you took for granted has gone, that you have lost your sense of identity and self worth. You may feel that you have lost almost everything and haven't much left to fall back on or look forward to.

All of this is an expected part of the grieving process. We at dove house have a number of services that can support you through this difficult but normal process of grief which will enable you to arrive at a place where life is once again worth living and the memory of your loved one no longer brings you pain.