Support

Counselling and Support

The NSW Government Families and Friends of Missing Persons Unit provide a free and confidential counselling service. FFMPU believe that by reaching out for support, the experience of having someone missing might become a little easier.

FFMPU is the only service of its kind in Australia that provides specialised therapeutic support to families and friends of missing people.

The counselling service responds to the ambiguous or unresolved loss that follows the disappearance of a loved one. This type of loss is not commonly experienced in the community and people often speak of a sense of isolation and confusion when faced with a loss that can be temporary or permanent.

FFMPU uses the national counselling framework Supporting those who are left behind when engaging with families and friends of missing people. The framework was developed following a Churchill Fellowship in 2006 that explored the international approach to unresolved loss. The framework is useful, not only for service providers but for families and friends wanting to understand better the impact of 'missing' on their lives. When a person reaches out for support or counselling from FFMPU they can expect the following:

• Support at the time of disappearance
• Ongoing emotional support either face to face, via the telephone or via email
• Practical support to identify which agencies may be able to assist a family in coping with their loss
• Strategies to cope with the physical and emotional challenges faced when a person remains missing
• Guidance and support in dealing with search agencies
• Information and referral for legal issues relating to missing persons
• Family reunion work when the missing person has been located and wishes to be reunited with family members
• Support for families where the missing person is located but does not wish to resume contact
• Coronial Support and liaison
• Bereavement support following the location of a deceased missing person (FFMPU refers families for grief support 4 weeks after the resolution of the investigation)
• If you contact the service for advocacy support you may be asked to sign a consent form to allow the unit to contact other agencies (such as the Police or the State Coroners Office) on your behalf.

When a family member or friend goes missing, counselling can:

• Normalise the impact of an unresolved or ambiguous loss by helping you understand the experience.
• Identify practical or emotional supports that you or your family may require
• Explore the impact of unresolved loss in a safe environment
• Identify some coping strategies while the missing persons case is unsolved
• Provide support during times of reunion, location or Coronial intervention
• Link families with other people who have experienced similar losses.

To talk to a counsellor call 1800 227 772 or email ffmpu@agd.nsw.gov.au Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

The FFMPU has a Support Group which may be of assistance to you.

The group will be meeting once a month at a community centre at Burwood in Sydney’s Inner West. Please see the link for more detail. 

FFMPU Support Group Invitation

The Post Adoption Resource Centre (PARC) has moved.

On Monday, 25 July 2011 PARC has commenced service from their new location at Hurstville. The address is Level 5, 7-11 The Avenue, Hurstville NSW 2220. While our location might be changing, our service won't be. We will still provide confidential counselling, information and support services to adoptees, parents and others affected by adoption.

 Find & Connect website

The new Find & Connect website launched by the government is a gateway to connect Forgotten Australians, Former Child Migrants and their families, to information and resources that help make sense of the past, and to see where their story its into the broader historical context.  The website can be accessed by

http://www.findandconnect.gov.au/

The fact sheets describing how to use the website is in

http://www.findandconnect.gov.au/help.html