Laura Centre

4 Tower Street
Leicester
LE1 6WS

Tel: 0116 254 4341
Web: www.thelauracentre.org

The Laura Centre is a family bereavement counselling centre which provides confidential counselling and group support, free of charge to:

• Anyone affected by the death of a child at any age and from any cause.
• Any school age child/young person up to 25 years of age affected by the death of a parent/carer, grandparent, sibling or other significant adult.

The Laura Centre opened in 1991 and emerged from a partnership between the charity COPE and a working party of committed healthcare professionals. Initially funded by generous voluntary donations from local people throughout Leicester and Leicestershire, these funds have since been supplemented by an annual grant from Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland Strategic Health Authority and a number of smaller grants from charitable trusts. They have a generous grant from the national lottery.

The Laura Centre primarily covers Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, but because of the lack of similar facilities elsewhere, they can also see clients from Northamponshire, Derbyshire, Warwickshire and Lincolnshire. The Laura Centre provides telephone and e-mail support throughout the UK.

They also offer:

• A special quiet room where the bereaved may come at any time to reflect upon the death of their loved one. In the room there are informal books of memories compiled by those who come to the Centre. A candle is lit each day in the quiet room in memory of those who have died.
• A book of remembrance, kept in the quiet room, in which the names of those who have died are inscribed by a calligrapher on the anniversary of their death.
• An annual memorial service, remembering the children and young people who have died.
• A library and information resource: books, papers, articles, pamphlets, reference materials, audio and video tapes all related to bereavement.
• Professional support/supervision/consultancy to other groups/individuals working with the bereaved. As well as presentations and training related to bereavement.