Next of kin - supervisor
Suddenly, or if you saw the death of a loved one coming, a lot comes your way. In addition to the grief, a funeral must be arranged in a short time. You will often be accompanied by a funeral director when arranging a funeral. After the funeral is over, suddenly the big silence comes and you feel like you don't have to arrange 'anything' in the very short term.
The person who died still has an estate, lived somewhere, was your partner, your father or mother, your brother or sister, another family member or a close friend. That person was still working, already retired or on benefits, had bank accounts, was perhaps a member of an association, drove a car and had various social media accounts.
And now?
"Grief and grief is personal and unique"
I have been working in the media world since 1999 and now work as a media consultant at boutique media agency mBuy. Here I advise advertisers on how they can use their media budget, both offline and online, in an efficient and effective way to reach their desired target group and achieve the desired objectives.
In addition to this work, I work as a Bereaved Counselor, where I give advice and support in the field of loss, mourning and all the business aspects that come up with a death. In addition, I also help people with cleaning up the house and creating an overview (after a death, but also without someone having died, so when people have lost the overview).
To this end, I founded my own company Survivor Counselor Linda in the summer of 2020 after obtaining my diplomas for funeral director, bereaved care and professional organizing.
In addition to my work in the media and my own company, I am also a volunteer at the Issoria hospice in Leiden. Here I am a volunteer in the field of grief support. I support people in the field of individual grief support. In addition, I am a volunteer in the Surviving Relatives Café in Leiden and I am a member of the steering committee of the Surviving Relatives Café Leiden on behalf of Issoria.
I started working as a survivor counsellor because, in addition to my work in the media, I also want to be meaningful to people at difficult moments in life, where they could use a helping hand.
I ended up in this profession as a survivor counsellor because of my fascination with death, from an early age. This theme kept coming back in my life, that I wanted to do something with it, but didn't do anything with it. Since it is a recurring theme, I decided after several losses in my environment to see if I could do something with it. During a winter sports trip with friends in the Dolomites in Italy, I decided to sign up for a course in Survivor Care. I also did a training for Professional Organizing and a home study for Funeral Director, so I also know this as a background. I also thought it was important to know this well, besides the fact that unfortunately I have also received this from time to time in the private sphere, when loved ones passed away.
It inspires me to support people when they need help at a difficult moment in life and to help them move forward on the basis of self-reliance. Being there for people and supporting them when needed on a business and/or emotional level and/or when they want to clean up things.
I unburden people by structuring the matters they need to arrange. I offer them an overview, can take things off their hands, help them clean up. On an emotional level, I offer them a listening ear. This can be at people's homes or walking through nature.
It is special work, because you can assist people despite the grief, with the matters that need to be taken care of administratively/business or emotionally. When I help people clean up, you often see that a burden falls off people's shoulders. They can see the forest for the "trees – read > rubbish" again.
I try not to take my work home and "leave it behind" on the road. Mind you, this doesn't always work; I'm only human. The stories that people share with me and to see/hear them with attention evokes a lot of emotion. I want to be there for the people.
The resilience of humanity often impresses me the most.
My working days are different and depend on the issue. Helping relatives with an administrative issue is often done on the basis of a fixed number of hours (and more often if necessary). On an emotional level, they are often longer processes, as you talk to people. Occasionally, someone has also been helped with a one-off conversation. Of course, we always look together at how often we meet (and for how long). When I help people clean up, it depends on the space where we are going to work. I come here once for a number of hours or several times for a number of hours, depending on the issue.