The Forgiveness Project’s Sandra Barefoot and Anne-Marie Cockburn will be delivering the keynote address. The Forgiveness Project provides opportunities and resources for people to explore the complexities of forgiveness. Through storytelling and creative methodologies, the charity collaborates with individuals who have experienced trauma and loss. Their work is a process of exploration and inquiry, creating spaces where meaningful conversations can emerge and grow.
Following the keynote address, there will be break-out groups (morning and afternoon). Delegates can choose two of the following:
A) The Healing Page – Anne-Marie Cockburn offers a gentle space to explore grief through writing. Where words become witnesses, companions and tools for healing. No writing experience needed, just a willingness to show up just as you are in this very moment.
B) Surviving the Loss of Your World (SLOW) – Sian Gill and Amber Dobinson are bereaved parents, currently facilitating group meetings for bereaved parents on behalf of the charity SLOW. Having lived experience of losing a child and now supporting others who are on the same devastating journey, Sian & Amber offer a gentle, kind, confidential and unique space to those who want to connect with others in their grief. SLOW’s ethos is about sitting with your grief and exploring how to continue.
C) Healthcare Chaplaincy: Help or Hindrance? – Imam Rizwan Rawat is the head of the chaplaincy service at LNWH NHS trust covering Northwick Park, Ealing, and Central Middlesex hospitals. He brings extensive experience from specialist cancer care (Mount Vernon), hospice care (Michael Sobell Hospice), acute care, and was previously a prison Chaplain at HMP Belmarsh. Riz aims to change misconceptions about chaplaincy, highlighting their role in both crises and positive moments. He encourages everyone to connect with the chaplaincy team regardless of their faith, reinforcing that he and his team are there to help.
D) Working therapeutically with ‘stuckness’ – Professor Deborah Rafalin is Assistant Vice President (Education) and Professor of Counselling Psychology at City St George’s, University of London. She is an HCPC Registered Psychologist and clinical supervisor who has worked therapeutically within the NHS, the third sector and private practice. She is experienced in working in a range of psychological therapy approaches with clients from diverse backgrounds with a broad range of difficulties. Deborah will be leading a break out group exploring how to work therapeutically with individuals who have become stuck in their experiences of grief, which complicate their ability to accept their loss and be able to move forward meaningfully with their lives.
E) Grenfell and beyond: Coping with multiple complexities – Deborah Akinlawon QPM and Teresa Jimenez. Deborah and Teresa are retired police officers with the Metropolitan Police. In their service they have been Family Liaison Officers dealing with bereaved families. They will be sharing their experience of supporting those who have experienced major incidents including MH17, Tunisia, tram derailment, London Bridge and Grenfell.
F) Barriers in supporting bereaved Children and Young People – Parminder Sahota is Director of Clinical Services for Grief Encounter. She has over 25 years of experience working within both statutory children’s services and the voluntary sector with specific experience of leading mental health support services for children and young people across London. She is passionate about supporting organisations transform to meet changing needs and promoting a greater understanding of the impact of inequality and social exclusion on children, young people and families.
Refreshments, including a vegetarian sandwich lunch, are provided.