Lincolnshire HIV Campaigner Urges Companies to Better Support Grieving Employees
Lizzie Jordan set up a company to support people to have conversations about difficult topics after her partner died from HIV
A Lincolnshire woman who became a mother, lost her partner and discovered she had HIV all within 18 months is urging businesses to do more to help bereaved employees.
Lizzie Jordan from Gainsborough found it difficult to discuss what she was going through with her employer 20 years ago after her partner died from HIV. Lizzie was then diagnosed with the virus herself while having to bring up their child.
Lizzie is CEO of Think2Speak, a social enterprise company she set up to support people to have conversations about difficult topics, she said:
“When someone is bereaved, the impact on their life is significant, and that will impact their financial worries and care role may change who they need to look after and what that looks like. So, it's important that we find out what the individual needs support with.
“I was really concerned about people learning all the different facets of my story. So my HIV diagnosis really then compounded that because of the huge stigma that is still attached to that virus and that condition.
“At the time when I first tried to seek counselling, I couldn't afford to take the time off work. And actually, that would have been something that I think employers could have helped with, providing the facility and the time and the space for that.
“It's stepping up and into that space, letting the individual know that you're there for them to listen, when they need you. And that might not look like a formal kind of briefed conversation. It may be much more around the water cooler or over coffee.