The Aims of St Albans and District Network |
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To establish SABN as a competent, trusted and expert organisation in its field. |
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To recruit and develop a core of well trained individuals able to undertake bereavement support. |
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To meet particular needs for groups of bereaved, such as children, young people and families, by developing a core of trained specialist visitors. |
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To be able to provide advice and support to organisations, such as school nurses and General Practitioners, who are in the front line of caring for the bereaved with special needs. |
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To develop our capacity to understand and provide support for the bereaved of the various faith groups in our community. |
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To raise sufficient funding through grants, donations and events to support the Network’s part time staff, to provide training for those volunteers working for the Network and to meet the routine running costs of the Network. |
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To create and maintain a high level of awareness of the Network and its work in the communities in which we operate. |
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Our services are provided free to all persons needing support. The charity receives limited statutory funding and relies heavily on grants and donations. |
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Present position of SABN |
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In the nine years since its creation, SABN has been able to provide support for over 2000 people in the City and District through its telephone helpline, home visits by bereavement visitors, counselling, social groups and advice and support. |
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SABN has established a specialist Childhood Bereavement service providing support for bereaved children, young people and their families through a team of specially trained staff and visitors. |
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SABN also provides a service for schools and teachers to enable them to support pupils experiencing bereavement. |
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SABN has a library containing literature on bereavement and has a growing collection of resources for use by staff, volunteers clients and others requiring information. |
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All SABN services are currently provided free of charge to all bereaved people needing support within St Albans City and District. |
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Training is critical to SABN to ensure the provision of effective bereavement support in all of its areas of activity and is provided for all volunteers to develop skills needed to undertake their work. |
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SABN’s paid staff are encouraged to engage in Continued Professional Development and are supported to attend meetings and courses to widen their experience and value to the Network. |
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In the immediate future, it is the intention of SABN to build on its established foundation to maintain, develop and extend its present activities and to be responsive to emerging needs of the bereaved in the community and of our volunteers. |
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