There are many questions you may want to ask and things you can do to help those that have or are suffering. It’s not easy losing someone and on the other side, it’s not easy for people to reach out and try and help either. We have put together some questions for you and the things you can do to help others.
It sounds stupid, but don’t ask how are you? They have just lost someone. Try and break the ice about it, with
“Would you like to talk about it?”
“Are you sleeping at night?”
“How are all the arrangements going…..do you need any help?”
“How are you getting to ….?”
These may help if they have children.
“Would you like me to look after the children for a few hours?”
“I’ll pick the kids up from school for you (confirm time)”
Can I get you anything? This is too open-ended and we tend to find that we don’t open up and say yes, I need this or that. Two suggestions we can make are to bring some items around such as toilet rolls, toiletries, etc (they will still need them) or dinner. Pizza, curry anything. This is a massive help at this time. Some people don’t like to leave the house or don’t want to speak to others so having food in the house and supplies is really helpful.