On the move in August

Steve Smith, the new CEO of Havens Hospices

We round up the latest appointments in the sector.

Together for Short Lives appoints new Trustees

Sue Hogg and Tracy Tait have been appointed to Together for Short Lives’ Board of Trustees. Sue is the Director of Children and Families at Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) and Tracy is Interim Director of Brand and Marketing at Penny Brohn UK. As Trustees they will help to steer the charity’s strategy and governance.

Sue is a registered general and registered sick children’s nurse, and worked in hospital and community nursing posts before her first move into children’s palliative care in 1993. On becoming a Trustee, she said:

“The icing on the cake of a long professional connection with the organisation. I am aiming to bring an absolute commitment to supporting the team to deliver on the ambition of Together for Short Lives to achieve positive change for babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions and their families.

Tracy has nearly 20 years’ experience of working in the third sector, with strategic and operational experience across fundraising, communications, and marketing for child and adult healthcare charities. She shared her personal passion for joining Together for Short Lives:

“I remember exactly where I was when my sister called to tell me that Jack, my nephew, had been diagnosed with a brain tumour. I could hardly hear her through her sobs and I couldn’t really process what she was telling me, but somewhere deep inside I felt my heart break for her, for Jack, for our family.”

“Jack died at home, in his own bed, surrounded by his family and we will be forever grateful for that. I know this is not the experience for everyone. It is vital that Together for Short Lives continues to campaign for the best quality of life and end of life care for every child and their family. I would like to do my bit in helping to make this possible. I’m very honoured to be invited to join the Trustees of Together for Short Lives and to be able to make a difference to a cause that is very personal to me.”

Havens Hospices appoints new CEO

Steve Smith has been announced as the new chief executive of Havens Hospices in Essex.

Steve has been working for the organisation (which includes children’s hospice Little Havens, The J’s Hospice for young adults, and Fair Havens for adults) since October 2015 as Director of Facilities, and more recently as the new Fair Havens Hospice Project Director, as the driving force behind getting the new facility built which is due for completion next spring.

With a background in project management, Steve has experience of leading teams of people to deliver organisational change through construction and IT projects in both the private and public sector.

Speaking of his commitment to the staff and volunteers at Havens Hospices, he said:

“Ultimately, we should be here to give better care to more people, through our actual hospices but also in the community. I’ll be working with our external healthcare partners to remove the isolation of hospice care and finding more opportunities to expand our care and funding models, as well as looking at ways to continue attracting qualified and passionate nursing staff to work for us.

“I have promised to put the patients and families at the heart of every decision we make, listen to the ideas of our staff and volunteers and empower them to find solutions, and believe that we all have the potential to be even better at what we all do – regardless of where we work or volunteer within the organisation. We all have an important part to play.”

Facilitators needed for St Clare Hospice’s bereavement cafés

St Clare Hospice in Essex is expanding its Bereavement Café initiative to meet the needs of local people who are facing the loss of a loved one.

Since the beginning of 2019 the charity has established five Bereavement Cafés throughout the local area. As of Friday 6 September, St Clare will increase the frequency of the monthly event at its Hastingwood site to occur every Friday afternoon.

In addition to this, the hospice will also launch two new Bereavement Cafés in Epping Forest and Harlow in October, bringing the total number of Cafés to 10.

Michele Tavarone, a Social Worker within St Clare’s Patient & Family Support team, explains the need for this service: “Bereavement Cafés are really about offering people the opportunity to support each other, empowering our local communities to become more resilient – together. However, running a Bereavement Café does require support from our amazing team of Bereavement Café Facilitators, who are all local people dedicated to volunteering with St Clare and making a difference in their community.

“With our Cafés continuously expanding and supporting more people, we are appealing for some more helping hands to come forward and volunteer with us, to enable us to continue growing the project.”

Voluntary Bereavement Café Facilitators play a vital part in setting up the events, welcoming attendees, and being attentive and hospitable.

“You do not need to be an ‘expert’ in bereavement to facilitate at a Bereavement Café,” says St Clare’s Voluntary Services Manager, Rob Wallace. “However, you will need to have a range of ‘soft skills’ to assist you in easing the ‘flow’ of the Café and ensuring that nobody is sitting alone, for example.

“This is an extremely rewarding role at St Clare that is directly helping to make a difference to local people who have experienced the loss of a loved one. We would welcome anyone who is 18+ years, with a passion for supporting others and getting involved in their local community, to get in touch and find out more about the role.”

For more information St Clare’s Community Engagement Manager, Sally Muylders, who is a co-organiser of the Bereavement Café events.