Grief & After
Losing a partner after a long life together
Bereavement in later life involves losing not only a person but a way of living, and the practical consequences are frequently as destabilising as the grief.
Grief & After
Practical and emotional work in the months following.
Grief & After
When you are the last one left
Outliving your generation is a particular kind of loss, rarely discussed, and it brings practical problems alongside the grief.
Grief & After
Continuing bonds: what people do with the relationship afterwards
The idea that grief ends with letting go has been substantially revised, and what most people actually do is maintain a relationship in an altered form.
Grief & After
What grief does to the body
Bereavement has measurable physical effects, and the health of recently bereaved people deteriorates in ways that are documented and under-discussed.
Grief & After
After a sudden or violent death
Grief after a sudden death, a suicide, or a death involving investigation follows a different course, and the additional processes make it considerably harder.
Grief & After
Going back to work
Bereavement leave is generally short, the return is harder than people expect, and most workplaces handle it badly for lack of knowing what to do.
Grief & After
Clearing the house
Sorting through someone’s possessions is among the hardest tasks in bereavement, and it is frequently done too quickly, by the wrong people, in the wrong order.
Grief & After
Supporting someone who is grieving
People stay away because they do not know what to say. What is needed does not require the right words and does require turning up more than once.
Grief & After
Anniversaries, birthdays and the first year
Certain dates arrive with more force than expected, and the anticipation is frequently worse than the day itself.
Grief & After
Grieving someone you had a difficult relationship with
Complicated grief after a complicated relationship is common, rarely discussed, and frequently harder than grieving someone you simply loved.
Grief & After
Grief: what is normal and what to expect
Most of what people are told about grief is wrong, including the stages, the timeline and the idea that it is something to get over.
Grief & After
The first two weeks: what actually has to be done
The period immediately after a death involves a set of practical tasks, most of which are less urgent than they feel, and a few that genuinely are.