Grief is one of the most fundamental human experiences, and one of the most private. Losing someone you love, or facing a significant loss of any kind, can leave you feeling completely unmoored: unable to concentrate, struggling to sleep, going through the motions of ordinary life while carrying something enormous.
Therapy cannot take the grief away. But it can give you a space where you do not have to carry it alone.
What do we mean by bereavement and loss?
Bereavement is most often understood as the loss of someone who has died. But grief can follow many kinds of loss: the end of a long relationship, a miscarriage or fertility journey, redundancy, the loss of your health, or a significant change in your sense of who you are.
Whatever the cause, your grief is real, and it deserves proper attention.
How grief affects people
There is no single way to grieve. Some people cry frequently; others feel numb or strangely calm. Some find they are angry, or restless, or unable to feel anything at all. You might find yourself functioning well in some parts of your life while quietly falling apart in others.
Grief does not follow a timetable or a tidy sequence of stages. It tends to move in waves, sometimes easing and then returning with unexpected force, often triggered by something small: a song, a smell, a date in the calendar.
Some signs that grief may benefit from professional support:
- The weight of it does not ease with time
- You are finding it difficult to manage daily life, work or relationships
- You are using alcohol or other substances to get through
- You feel unable to talk about what has happened, even with people close to you
- You are experiencing sustained depression, anxiety or physical symptoms
- You are supporting a bereaved child and are not sure how to help them
Bereavement by suicide
Losing someone to suicide carries its own particular grief. Alongside the pain that follows any bereavement, people bereaved by suicide often face guilt, unanswerable questions, a sense of shock that can persist long after the event, and feelings that are difficult to name or to share with others.
These responses are not signs of weakness or failure. They are a natural part of an extraordinarily difficult experience. Therapy can offer a place to sit with these feelings honestly, including the ones that feel impossible to say out loud, without judgement.
How therapy can help
Therapy for grief is not about moving on, or reaching acceptance, or finding a way to feel better on a schedule. It is about being accompanied: having a reliable, thoughtful presence alongside you as you make your way through something that takes the time it takes.
At Inner Space, our therapists work with the full range of grief and bereavement, including losses that others around you may not fully understand or acknowledge. Sessions are unhurried and private, and there is no expectation that you will arrive knowing what you want to say.
We work with children (from age 7), young people, adults and families following bereavement. Our therapists are highly qualified and members of professional bodies including UKCP, BACP, and NCPS.
Further support
Cruse Bereavement Support offers free counselling, support groups and online resources for people who have been bereaved. For those bereaved by suicide, Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBS) provides specialist peer support groups across the UK. Winston’s Wish specialises in supporting bereaved children and their families.