Grief Conversations: For all those living with loss & supporting others through loss by Gail Millar and Jill Phipps
Each person’s experience of grief is as unique as they are. Yet the Covid-19 pandemic has seen hidden grief on a scale unknown in most of our lifetimes.
For some who have lost relatives, friends, colleagues or patients, lockdowns meant their grief stalled. It was left, largely, unexpressed. It just could not be shared with others in the ways which ordinarily might have brought a measure of comfort and relief.
It was with all these exceptional factors in mind that after the first wave of Covid we set about producing a resource for those hit by such profound losses. We hope Grief Conversations enables those bereaved through the pandemic – and whose pain is still raw despite the passage of time – to feel better supported, understood and that little bit less alone.
The stories gathered here are all different, but they bear the hallmarks of grief exacerbated by being deprived of one another’s company and sympathy. Restrictions on our movements resulted in a painful sense of limbo. At the very least, the stories enable those in acute grief to feel solidarity with others. If you are supporting someone through the aftermath of death, the personal testimony and advice shared casts welcome light where shadows have prevailed.
Above all, these Grief Conversations ring true. Here, you will find some balm for the hurting, and a starting place for all who have been lost for words in the face of another’s suffering and sorrow.
Grief Conversations is available free to download below. We are also delighted that thanks to generous funding a number of physical copies have been printed for use by author Gail Millar and the charities Befriended, Time to Talk Befriending and London City Mission.
