On any given week, Vibrant Health Advocates – Halley is running listening circles, meeting individually with bereaved people, and reaching out across Airdrie to make sure no one navigates loss alone.
On any given week, Vibrant Health Advocates – Halley is running listening circles in community venues across Airdrie, meeting individually with people who need help unpicking the practical aftermath of loss, and responding to referrals from GP practices, social workers, and community members who have signposted someone our way.
Our listening circles follow a consistent, facilitated format: each session opens with a gentle check-in, moves into open sharing time where participants speak about their loss and their experience in the days since they last gathered, and closes with a brief grounding exercise. There is no pressure to speak, no fixed trajectory for grief, and no expectation that participants will reach a defined outcome. People come for weeks, or for months, or for a single session when they need it most — all of that is right.
Our signposting work is less visible but equally vital. When someone comes to us having lost a spouse who managed all the household finances, or a parent who was their only source of housing stability, the emotional weight of grief is compounded by genuine, urgent complexity. Our coordinators sit with those individuals and work through what needs to happen, what they are entitled to, and who can help — then stay in contact until the connections are made and holding.
We also invest significantly in keeping our knowledge of the local support landscape current, because services change, funding ends, and a referral to a service that no longer exists only compounds a bereaved person's sense of being let down by the world.
Each strand of our work is free, non-clinical, and shaped entirely around the person who comes to us.
Small-group peer gatherings for recently bereaved adults, held weekly across accessible venues in Airdrie.
Our listening circles run every week in community centres and faith-neutral venues chosen for their accessibility and warmth. Each circle is kept deliberately small — no more than eight participants — and is facilitated by two trained volunteers who create a structured but unhurried space for people to speak, or simply to sit, as they need. Circles are open to anyone who has experienced a bereavement within the past two years, and people are welcome to attend for as long as it is helpful to them.
Personalised guidance helping bereaved individuals navigate the practical and emotional support available across North Lanarkshire.
Not everyone is ready for a group, and bereavement often comes wrapped in urgent practical pressures. Our signposting coordinators meet individually with people to understand their full situation — financial, housing, health, family — and map a clear, personalised path through the services available to them. We maintain up-to-date knowledge of statutory and voluntary provision across North Lanarkshire, including benefits entitlements, specialist counselling services, legal advice, and faith community support, and we follow up with individuals to make sure connections have been made.
Structured training for community volunteers who want to support bereaved people safely and effectively.
We train a cohort of volunteer facilitators each year, drawing on the frameworks developed by Cruse Bereavement Scotland and adapted for the specific context of our listening circle model. The training covers bereavement theory, active listening skills, group dynamics, safeguarding, and self-care for supporters. Graduates join our facilitator pool and are matched with circle sessions, with ongoing supervision provided by our lead coordinator. We also offer refresher sessions and an annual learning day for all active volunteers.
Proactive engagement with GPs, funeral directors, faith communities, and local services to ensure bereaved people know we exist.
Many bereaved people do not reach out for support because they do not know it is available, or because grief leaves them without the energy to search. Our outreach work puts information directly into the hands of the professionals and community members most likely to encounter recently bereaved people in Airdrie — including GP practices, pharmacies, funeral directors, schools, mosques, churches, and foodbanks. We provide referral cards, run awareness sessions, and maintain relationships with local statutory services so that signposting to our work becomes a natural part of the support landscape in North Lanarkshire.
Every volunteer who facilitates a listening circle at Vibrant Health Advocates – Halley has completed structured training in bereavement awareness, active listening, group dynamics, safeguarding, and self-care for supporters. No one sits in a circle alongside bereaved people without that foundation in place.
Training draws on the frameworks developed by Cruse Bereavement Scotland and is adapted specifically for the listening circle model we run in Airdrie. Qualified facilitators receive ongoing supervision from our lead coordinator and gather annually for a full-day learning event. It is a serious commitment — and our volunteers make it wholeheartedly.
If you would like to train as a volunteer facilitator, we would love to hear from you. See our Get Involved page for more.
Our circles are free, confidential, and open to anyone recently bereaved in Airdrie or the surrounding area. No referral needed — just get in touch.
Get in touch