29/08/2026
What if we stopped thinking of grief as something that only follows death?
August is often recognised as a time to raise awareness of grief, with National Grief Awareness Day falling on 30 August.
And one of the things I value most about grief awareness is the opportunity to acknowledge that grief can follow any significant loss.
The death of someone we love.
The loss of a relationship.
A change in our health.
A career we can no longer continue.
A home.
A role or identity that once shaped our lives.
Infertility.
Childlessness.
Or the future we thought we were going to have.
These losses don’t always come with a funeral, sympathy cards or support from friends and family, and sometimes there isn’t even a word for what we have lost. That kind of loss can make the grief incredibly lonely.
This is why I believe we need to normalise conversations about grief and reduce the stigma around talking about loss. We don’t need to compare losses or decide which ones are important or significant enough.We need to recognise that when something matters to us and it is lost, grief may be part of the experience.
That is at the heart of the work I do, creating space for people to acknowledge the losses that aren’t always visible, and helping them find a way forward without having to minimise what they have lost.
Grief deserves an open conversation, whatever the loss.
