Meet Our Companions

Trish Lee
Companion Supervisor

I have been married to the wonderful Pastor Graham Lee for 50 +years . We have three adult children and 10 lovely grandchildren. I have worked alongside Graham in a Pastoral capacity most of our married life but also enjoy being out and involved in  community organisations.
 
Over the years I have been involved with several amazing organisations caring for the sick and dying, for example the Chid Cancer Society and the Hospice while living and bringing up our children in Wanganui. I have recently retired after 20 years working for the Wellington Hospitals Foundation Managing Volunteers for both Wellington Hospital and Kenepuru Hospital. Volunteers are amazing caring people in our community, so it is a great privilege to now be working alongside the Companion Volunteers at the Loss and Grief Centre in this vital service that is offered to all during very difficult times of loss in life.
 

If you feel you would like to be a Companion at the Loss and Grief Centre, please do not hesitate to contact me.
He waka eke noa… we are all in this together.

Marilyn Jeffery
Volunteer

I have always enjoyed working with people, and my background in Nursing, Counselling, and Celebrant work has equipped me well for working alongside people in grief situations.
I live in Waikanae – my husband and I share five children and 11 grandchildren.
My other passions are music (playing the piano, a brass instrument), gardening, knitting, and walking.
I have been a Companion at the Loss and Grief Centre since it opened, and I find supporting people as they work through the grieving process very rewarding.

David Irvine
Volunteer

I am retired from a career in government, then the education and health sectors with a particular interest in staff development and training.
My voluntary work has mainly been in supporting people to deal with challenging life issues – through, for instance, the NZ Samaritan Service
My late wife and I lived in Wellington where we raised our family. After we both retired, we moved to Levin for five years then to a Kapiti retirement village. Beverley passed away in early 2023 from cancer which we had lived with for a number of years. Both before and after her death I needed to cope with my grief.
I believe many of us find it helpful to talk about our loss with someone who is also grieving.
We each have our own way of coping with loss but it can be useful to hear what was helpful or is working for someone else Or sometimes it is valuable to sit and reflect with someone who might understand something of our pain.
Being a companion at the Loss and Grief Centre gives me an opportunity to support others as I have been supported.

Tania O’Regan
Office Reception