Ahead of National Grief Awareness Week, 2nd – 8th December, Leeds Mindful Employer Network spoke with some of the team from Full Circle Funerals – Director, Sarah Jones, and Support Services Manager, Jade Westgarth. They discuss their focus on employees’ mental health, especially after facing loss, and a grief resource they recently created for the Leeds Mindful Employer Network: “Supporting Employees Through Bereavement: What Employers Can Do“.
Please tell us a bit about yourself and your roles at Full Circle Funerals.
Sarah: I was a doctor and have always worked in health and social care. I opened Full Circle Funerals in 2016 because I wanted to create a funeral service which makes a challenging time easier for people. We support people from all walks of life, all religions and cultures and from across Yorkshire – it is a huge privilege.
Jade: I am the Support Services Manager here at Full Circle and have been here since we set up as funeral directors. As my job title suggests, my team and I are here to support with the running of our services and making sure the funeral directors have everything they need in order to support families in the best possible way.
Why is mental health important to you (as an individual and as an organisation)?
Sarah: Mental health matters to me because it shapes how we cope, connect, and function every day. As an organisation, we see the impact of loss and understand how important it is to create a culture where people feel safe, listened to, and valued.
Jade: Mental health and wellbeing is such an important topic; any part of our lives can be affected and impacted by poor mental health. As an organisation, the better our employees can look after themselves, the better they are able to help and support the people we look after. We take our role in supporting our employees very seriously; there is the potential for a lot of vicarious trauma in our role as funeral directors, so it is imperative that we support our employees in the best way for them.
What are you most proud of in Full Circle’s approach to supporting employee wellbeing?
Jade Westgarth, Support Services Manager at Full Circle Funerals
Jade: As a leadership team, whenever we are looking to make changes or improve our systems, if they are going to affect our team in any way, we always consider the impact and whether it is going to have a positive or negative impact. If it wasn’t going to have a positive impact we would then change the plan. We want to ensure our teams’ wellbeing is the first thing we think about when making any decisions or changes to the way we work.
From your experience, what are some of the biggest challenges organisations face when it comes to supporting staff after a loss?
Sarah: One of the biggest challenges is knowing how to respond confidently and sensitively — many managers worry about saying the wrong thing. Everyone is so very individual, and it is important to spend time with someone who has experienced a bereavement to find out what they need. It is also a challenge to remember that grief isn’t timebound – and so people may have different needs at different times.
Tell us a bit about the grief resource you have created for the Leeds Mindful Employer Network, and how employers can use it.
Sarah: The information I have put together aims to give an overview of how to approach supporting people after bereavement. There are some suggested steps to take and practical examples of what might be helpful – if anyone would like more help to decide their policies, training or anything else then we can put them in touch with HR professionals who are very experienced (and friendly).
What do you hope employers take away from this resource?
Sarah: I hope that it motivates the reader to put together a policy (or check what they already have), speak to their teams proactively and then really “show up” when someone in their team experiences loss. This is about genuinely caring and wanting to do the right thing, and then committing to that in reality.
Why do you think conversations about grief and bereavement are still so difficult in professional settings, and how can leaders help to change that?
Sarah Jones, Director at Full Circle Funerals
Sarah: Grief is still hard to talk about at work because people fear being intrusive, getting it wrong, or crossing professional boundaries. Leaders can shift this by modelling open, human conversations, giving teams simple guidance on what to say, and making it clear that empathy and flexibility are part of the culture. When leaders go first, everyone else feels safer to follow. These conversations don’t need to be about grief, they can be about a whole range of human experiences and vulnerabilities.
How can smaller organisations with limited resources still show meaningful support to bereaved employees?
Sarah: I think a key starting point is to have a clear policy in a staff handbook to clarify what people can expect and how they might be supported. This includes what time off they might have and who they might speak to.
In terms of supporting employees at Full Circle Funerals, what are your priorities for the next 6 months?
Jade: Our Operations Lead has recently completed Mental Health First Aider training, so I will be working with her to implement and monitor wellbeing agreements with our team.
What would you say to a local business or organisation considering joining the Leeds Mindful Employer Network?
Jade: The network has been such a valuable resource for us as a business; it has helped validate some of the things we were doing already but it has helped significantly with how we can improve and support our team better. There is a wealth of resources and events to attend to improve our knowledge as an employer and therefore how we can implement better policies to support our team.
A big thank you to Jade and Sarah for contributing to this blog.
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