The comfort bench at the cemetery in Lebenstedt is a new approach to grief counseling by employees of the hospice initiative, for which mourners do not need to register. Simply drop by and take a seat: Trained bereavement counselors offer conversations that provide comfort in difficult times. They listen without judgment, endure tears and silence and have time.

The Salzgitter Hospice Initiative is setting an example with its new comfort bench service - no one should be alone in their grief! Through this form of grief counseling at the cemetery, the cemetery can become a place of strength for the everyday life of the grieving.

Every Wednesday afternoon from 2 p.m., volunteers are present on the comfort bench at urn grave collection field VIII and give mourners comforting time. Signposts guide those interested to the location.

Next to the comfort bench is an information box containing flyers with the various services offered by the association. There is also a sign on this information box with a QR code that can be photographed with a smartphone and then accessed via a link to the hospice initiative's homepage. There you can access comforting stories, comforting poems and comforting music. The comforting stories and poems were provided by Doris Engels and Manuela Herzog from Salzgitter.

Further information:

Mourners suffer a considerable loss of contact following the death of a loved one. After the funeral service and burial, they are often alone, alone with pain and fears, with worries about the present and the future and with uncertainties in the mourning situation. It is often difficult for mourners to find people who will listen to them, and they are often avoided.

The nationwide idea of mourning and consolation benches has now been implemented in Salzgitter thanks to many committed people.

The volunteers of the hospice initiative Monika Metze, Hanni Inschläger and Christiane Voss were responsible for the idea and realization.

The bench and the signposts were made in the CJD's carpentry workshop, while the SRB approved and prepared the local construction measures for the site. CJD employees installed everything.

Several private donors and the Salzgitter Community Foundation have secured funding for the project.

In the foreseeable future, a second comfort bench is to be installed at the forest cemetery in Salzgitter-Bad. Christian Heinrich, the first chairman of the community foundation, has pledged his support.