The fact that there is a drive to raise awareness of grief shows how valid and meaningful it is; also, how we, as a society, are not very good at talking about it.

Grief – it is a little word with a great depth of meaning; it is complicated, it is messy, it is changeable.

For those around us, it can be hard to know what to say or what to do, there can be concerns that someone might make it worse. As we go through it, we know that no-one can make us feel worse than we do, the worst has already happened. 

There is no rulebook, no map to follow. Grief is personal, there is no right or wrong way to grieve. This can be very frustrating to hear, as we all want to know when it will be over. It is more that we learn to grow around our grief, rather than that it is something we ‘get over’. There will always be significant dates, places, songs, and so on, that will open up all of the feelings again for us. This is a natural process. In this respect, grief is more circular than linear.

Connecting with others is important, as grief is something we will all experience at some point in our lives. We don’t know what other people are going through and what they have experienced. Communication is often difficult when we are grieving, and we haven’t always got the right words, sometimes images and metaphors are more helpful. 

It is said that there is no hierarchy in grief – when it comes to the loss of a child, though, this is a very different kind of grief. It doesn’t follow the natural order of life, and it doesn’t make sense. This very particular grief is even more difficult to talk about. 

This is why National Grief Awareness Week is important – by holding space for the topic we can hopefully break down some of these difficulties. We can give people ‘permission’ to think about and talk about the hard stuff. We can connect and stand together for a little bit of time and let others know that ‘Yes, this is painful, but we are here’. Grief won’t be ignored and this Awareness Week is a way of acknowledging that it shouldn’t be.

If you would like to speak to our Counsellor, please email Alicia on:
[email protected]

Other bereavement charities:

Child Bereavement UK: https://www.childbereavementuk.org/

Grief Encounter: https://www.griefencounter.org.uk/

Compassionate Friends: https://www.tcf.org.uk/

Sands: https://www.sands.org.uk/