Group support

Symptom support group

This is an educational group for patients, carers and families to help improve understanding of, and develop better ways of managing common symptoms and concerns such as:

  • Breathlessness
  • Fatigue
  • Anxiety
  • Pain
  • Nutrition

Patients can attend one or all of the sessions depending on their needs.

Sessions are every Tuesday in the hospice gym, from 1.30 - 3.30pm (not during Christmas week).

For more information or to make a referral to the group, contact 01473 707924.

Patient exercise groups

We run exercise groups for inpatients, day care and outpatients.

  • Monday: 1.00 - 2.00pm, circuit group and relaxation
  • Monday: 2.30 -3.30pm, and Tuesday 11.30am - 12.30pm, seated exercise group and relaxation
  • Wednesday: 12 - 1pm, open gym session

All of these sessions take place in our therapy gym.

The Larch Group

Psycho-social support is offered to daycare patients via our groundbreaking schools project called the Larch Group.

School children are invited to visit the hospice once a week for a month and take part in group activities with daycare patients, who have been discharged. Together they explore issues such as death, hospice care, bereavement, disability and loss.

Patients and pupils work together to express the stories they have heard in a creative way such as through song, artwork, scrapbooking or drama.

Benefits for patients include:

  • Enabling patients to be valued and productive
  • Promoting self-esteem and self-validation through storytelling and the value of sharing their experiences
  • Facilitating the journey of acceptance and understanding of their experiences
  • Experiencing the children’s reactions to honest interactions around disease and dying, enabling patients to speak more openly with children in their personal lives

At the end of the four weeks the patients and children celebrate their journey at a presentation party attended by family, school staff, hospice employees and volunteers.

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