THE woman responsible for launching Jersey’s community bereavement service is retiring after 17 years in charge.

Shelia Warren started as a home care sister at Jersey Hospice before she launched the bereavement service in 1992.

Mrs Warren’s last official day was this week but she will stay on until her as yet unconfirmed replacement takes over.

‘I feel that I have done as much as I can and it is time for the service to get a new look,’ said the mother of two. ‘Six of my long-standing volunteers have also retired with me so we are actively looking to get more people on board.’

Speaking about how the bereavement counselling has helped those in the community, she said: ‘It is amazing how people can reinvest in their own lives and move forward.

‘We are giving them permission to do that and re-establish themselves after a profound loss by giving them the counselling. My family has been really supportive with my work and I am very grateful for that.’

The decision to help those who had suffered loss came following Mrs Warren’s role in helping a family whose daughter drowned while they were holidaying in Jersey in 1992.

‘I was called one Sunday and asked if I would take the family on,’ she said.
‘I said yes, and I learned so much from them and when they left they bought me a clock to thank me as they said it represented the fact that I had given them my time.’

That tragic event in 1992 helped shape the future of the bereavement service and as part of her role Mrs Warren went on various courses in the UK, before she recruited and trained other bereavement volunteers for the service.

In total, it is believed that more than 3,000 people have used the service since it started.
‘We all get far more out of it than what we put in,’ she said. ‘If you see someone who has been bereaved and is extremely low, to then see them a couple of months later after some counseling, looking different, it is like a butterfly coming out of a chrysalis.’

She will spend her retirement doing some gardening and spending some time with her family. But before doing that, she will be heading to Barbados for a three week cruise.