Many needs met at Loss and Grief Centre Kāpiti

Andrew Malcolm in front of the Loss and Grief Centre Kāpiti. Photo / David Haxton

There's a bit of a misconception that the Loss and Grief Centre Kāpiti is only available for people who are struggling with the death of someone special.

In fact the centre deals with a wide range of issues relating to loss such as redundancy, divorce, deteriorating memory, and so on.

"It's for any sort of loss," said Andrew Malcolm, who helped set up the centre.

The centre, at 1 Kāpiti Rd, Paraparaumu, opened after lockdown last year which "was perfect timing because there was probably more need at that point than beforehand".

The centre has been offering drop-in days which, though steady, hadn't had a lot of response from the public.

"We've had a few people in each time and they've said they heard about it from a friend.

"Trying to highlight what the centre is about has been the hard thing."

There's a renewed push to highlight the centre, including a few tweaks to the drop-in times to make it easy for people to remember.

The drop-in days are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 1.30pm to 4pm.

When people walk in they will be greeted by a support person who they can talk to about things and find out what resources are available.

The centre has various trained volunteers, many of who are retired counsellors, to help people who visit the centre.

There are no fees attached to people who use the centre, just a supporting environment to help them cope with a difficult time in their life.

Kāpiti Funeral Home is the principal sponsor, which is a charitable organisation.

Malcolm said there was a strong need for the centre.

"We've had lots of people contact us to say they need to talk.

"And we've got enough people now to start a support group which will have a facilitator and run for a set time like six weeks.

"We thought we might do that once a term, especially for people who might not be comfortable one-on-one who need that group setting.

"Lots of people are also asking for seminars so we're going to run a community seminar in July as well as professional development seminars."

Meanwhile, the centre is looking for someone who can help source funding, especially grants, to help with some of the centre's costs and initiatives.