Woodside Bereavement Service is established to relieve persons resident in the London Borough of Croydon experiencing severe or prolonged shock or depression arising from bereavement and loss, divorce or accident. It gives support through selected and trained Christian counsellors from Croydon churches to bereaved and pre- bereaved people and for the relief of distress and sense of loss. It assists them through their period of mourning and encourages acceptance of loss and re-adjustment. It also serves to educate and increase awareness of the nature of grief and bereavement. The service will be freely available to all those residing in the London Borough of Croydon affected by loss, regardless of race, colour, nationality, belief, age, gender, sexual orientation or physical disability.

Woodside Bereavement Service is comprised of volunteers, trained as bereavement counsellors who give free, one to one support on a regular basis in client's homes. The volunteers are drawn from every area of the borough, from multi-cultural backgrounds and each has different experiences of life. Each volunteer is required to sign the document "Volunteer Counsellor's Responsibilities and Code of Practice" when commencing with WBS. This document is based on the British Association of Counsellors' Code of Ethics. Aspects of the document are reinforced during supervision and on-going training sessions. Volunteers undertake all loss counselling and some counsellors have developed skills working with one particular age group or speciality.

The counselling team has two co-ordinators who allocate referrals, supervise the support group and are available to discuss issues that may arise for the counsellors. At the support group volunteers are encouraged to share their problems and anxieties and time is set aside for group discussion allowing consideration of specific and topical bereavement issues. The co-ordinators receive monthly supervision themselves from a qualified professional.

Counsellors are expected to attend the 50 hour training course which gives emphasis to counselling and listening skills. Some on-going training is organised with the expectation that volunteers will attend.

Woodside Bereavement Service is a registered charity (1041666) run by a management committee who meet at least 4 times a year to undertake strategic planning for the service, fund-raising and the administration of the charity.

Woodside Bereavement Service receives referrals from many different places including the London Bereavement Network, local GPs, Social Services as well as self referrals. These will be assessed within a week and will be allocated to a suitable counsellor who will be expected to contact the client within a week. If a counsellor is unavailable the client will be informed of the length of time before a counsellor becomes available and asked if they wish to go on a waiting list.

Woodside Bereavement Service operates from its centre in South Norwood.