Grief Support Services Case Study: Protecting the People Who Support Others
How Netcare helped Grief Support Services strengthen security, resolve ongoing IT frustrations, and create a safer, more reliable environment for their team and clients.
A little bit about Grief Support Services
Grief Support Services does the incredible work of providing counselling, support, and information for people experiencing grief and loss throughout the Western Bay of Plenty.
They believe in communities helping each other.
Operating since 1987, the organisation supports people through some of the most difficult moments of their lives, offering a safe place where people feel heard, supported, and cared for.
They are based in Greerton, Tauranga, and work across the wider Western Bay of Plenty region. And like many charities, they do all of this while working within very real funding limitations.
Why Security Became so Important
For organisations like Grief Support Services, privacy matters. A lot.
The team works with deeply personal and sensitive information every day. Their team is made up of part-time employees and the generous support of volunteers , which results in shared laptops and flexible workspaces.
That creates challenges from both a security and management perspective.
They needed systems that were secure, practical to manage, and suitable for the way their team actually works. Without introducing massive costs, they simply couldn’t afford.
At the same time, they were hearing more and more stories about cybersecurity breaches and leaked information within healthcare and support organisations.
They knew they couldn’t risk the same thing happening to them.
“We were really looking for a reliable IT partner with stronger security, especially given the sensitive nature of the information we work with.”
While they already had some IT support in place, they weren’t feeling overly confident that their systems or provider were helping them move toward stronger security.
That’s when they reached out to Chris at Netcare.
Looking Under the Hood
Chris was already known to the team through industry connections and mutual relationships, so when Grief Support Services asked him to review their systems, the conversation felt honest from the beginning.
As the organisation grew, its technology environment became more complex, with systems, devices and user access requirements evolving over time. Grief Support Services wanted confidence that their technology and security practices could continue to support their team, clients and future growth.
For Netcare and for Grief Support Services, cybersecurity and proper system structure are not optional extras. They’re foundational. Especially for organisations handling vulnerable client information.
Rather than overwhelming the team with technical jargon or unrealistic expectations, the focus became helping them improve things in practical, manageable steps.
Cleaning Up Years of Legacy Issues
One of the first priorities was improving internal security practices.
That included:
implementing stronger 2FA processes
reviewing folder permissions
improving access management
checking how information was being shared internally
helping protect devices through better endpoint security practices
Some long-standing frustrations were also resolved during the process.
One staff member had experienced ongoing authentication and sign-in issues for a long time, something that had simply never been properly solved previously. Netcare worked through the issue and got things functioning properly again.
Small fixes like that might not sound dramatic, but for busy teams already stretched thin, they make a real difference day-to-day.
“The onboarding process was straightforward, and it was great to refresh things like two-factor authentication and internal security permissions across the team.”
Supporting a Flexible Workforce
One of the more unique challenges Grief Support Services faces is the way their workforce operates.
With volunteers, students, part-time staff, and shared devices all part of the picture, managing laptops securely becomes far more complicated than a standard office setup.
The organisation essentially hot desks many of their devices, with multiple people using different laptops throughout the week.
Netcare began helping them work toward more cloud-based sign-in and management processes to make onboarding new staff simpler, safer, and more consistent moving forward.
Again, funding limitations mean these improvements need to happen gradually. But even having a roadmap and clearer direction has helped significantly.
The Reality Charities Face
One of the biggest challenges for Grief Support Services isn’t willingness to improve. It’s funding.
Like many charities, they rely on a combination of government funding, donations, philanthropic support, and community contributions to continue operating.
That means every dollar matters.
The team needs upgraded hardware, improved systems, and additional internal training to help reduce ongoing IT frustrations and productivity issues caused by aging devices.
Ironically, older technology often creates more costs in the long run through downtime, support issues, and inefficiencies.
But when organisations are focused on helping people in crisis, technology upgrades can understandably become difficult to prioritise financially.
A Support Team That Genuinely Cares
One thing the Grief Support Services team noticed immediately was the responsiveness from Netcare.
“Response times have been very good, definitely better than what we’d experienced previously, and the support team has been proactive in following things through.”
If something was still sitting with the Netcare team, they followed up.
That consistency helped build confidence quickly.
And while there is still more work to do over time, Grief Support Services now has a stronger foundation, better visibility around their risks, and a support partner helping them move in the right direction.
Because organisations supporting vulnerable people deserve support too.