A Grief Companion

'This is a book that takes you by the hand and promises the gentlest comfort in the darkest of times.' Tamsin Greig A Grief Companion offers us practical help to use alongside the theory of Sasha Bate's debut book, Languages of Loss. This guide gives us the starting points to begin our journeys of managing grief, providing us with space and pages to explore and process our feelings with Sasha's expert guidance. Sasha offers some optimism to let you know that you will find light and courage from out of this darkness, and you will be transformed by it. Your grief will not leave you, but you will arrange yourself around it differently. Split in to four sections, that can be read in any order - Mind, Body, Spirit and Everyday - this book explores the non-linear grief that you may be feeling and gives you permission to do your grief, your way. Filled with suggestions, resources, advice for friends of the bereaved and a guiding hand, we hope this book will help you see some light in the darkness of grief. 'Explaining how the mind and body work together, A Grief Companion offers insights into the process of grieving. The writing is energetic, down-to-earth and honest as Sasha Bates helps readers cope with the many layers and levels of grief. A useful as well as a moving book.' Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of A Manual for Heartache

'This is the most startlingly honest book about grief I have ever read. Its immediacy hits you on the first page and takes you on an unforgettable journey. No one has set out so clearly the stages we go through as we try to come to terms with facing the enormity of death.' - Dame Penelope Wilton, DBE 'Sasha writes exquisitely and honestly, the sheer rawness of what she has gone through and is still going through, sitting in balance with the calm and clear-sighted objectivity of the therapist, who is also her.' - Hugh Bonneville One person, two perspectives on grief. Plunged unexpectedly into widowhood at just 49 years old, psychotherapist Sasha Bates describes in searing honesty the agonisingly raw feelings unleashed by the loss of her husband and best friend, Bill. At the same time, she attempts to keep her therapist hat in place and create some perspective from psycho-analytic theory. From the depths of her confusion she gropes for ways to manage and bear the pain - by looking back at all that she has learnt from psychotherapeutic research, and from accepted grief theories, to help her make sense of her altered reality. Languages of Loss starts a necessary and overdue conversation about death and loss. It breaks down taboos and tries to find humour and light amidst the depressing, bewildering reality. It is an essential companion to help support readers through the agony of those early months, giving permission for all the feelings, and offering various methods of living with them.This book's overriding message is that everyone's experience of grief is different, but knowing more about the theory, and learning a new vocabulary, while not necessarily easing the grief, can help you feel less alone, and at some point enable you to reflect back and see how far you have come. 'This is a useful as well as a moving book. The writing is energetic, down-to-earth and bracingly honest, and many readers will feel consoled and enlightened by Bates's take on her experience.' - Cathy Rentzenbrink, The Times 'Bates's skill as a psychotherapist is married to her deft ability to use language and metaphor to create this vital treatise on loss. As much as Languages of Loss is an essential text on grief, it is also a story of love.' - Sunday Business Post Review 'This book will give anyone grieving the death of their partner an insight into their experience, and help those around them understand the difficult and painful process of grief.' - Julia Samuel, author of This Too Shall Pass and Grief Works

For fifty years Good Grief has helped millions of readers, including NFL players and a former first lady, find comfort and rediscover hope after loss. Now this classic text is available in a new edition with a foreword by one of the nation's leading communicators of medical health care information. An afterword by the author's daughters tells how the book came to be. Good Grief identifies ten stages of griefshock, emotion, depression, physical distress, panic, guilt, anger, resistance, hope, and acceptancebut, recognizing that grief is complex and deeply personal, defines no "right" way to grieve. Good Grief offers valuable insights on the emotional and physical responses persons may experience during the natural process of grieving. The anniversary gift edition includes space for readers to record thoughts about their personal experience with grief. Whether mourning the death of a loved one, the end of a marriage, the loss of a job, or other difficult life changes, Good Grief is a proven steady companion in times of loss.

Renowned author and educator Alan Wolfelt redefines the role of the grief counselor in this guide for caregivers to grieving children. Providing a viable alternative to the limitations of the medical establishment’s model for companioning the bereaved, Wolfelt encourages counselors and other caregivers to aspire to a more compassionate philosophy in which the child is the expert of his or her grief—not the counselor or caregiver. The approach outlined in the book argues against treating grief as an illness to be diagnosed and treated but rather for acknowledging it as an event that forever changes a child's worldview. By promoting careful listening and observation, this guide shows caregivers, family members, teachers, and others how to support grieving children and help them grow into healthy adults.

Explaining the important difference between grief and mourning, this book explores every mourner's need to acknowledge death and embrace the pain of loss. Also explored are the many factors that make each person's grief unique and the many normal thoughts and feelings mourners might have. Questions of spirituality and religion are addressed as well. The rights of mourners to be compassionate with themselves, to lean on others for help, and to trust in their ability to heal are upheld. Journaling sections encourage mourners to articulate their unique thoughts and feelings.

Companion in Grief is a guide for those experiencing the painful grief that follows the loss of a loved one. There is a message for each day of the year offering support in three areas: practical tips for managing profound feelings, spiritual thoughts that arise in grief, and inspiration for reaching the inevitable light at the end of the tunnel. Get the help you need from someone who's been through the painful experience of grief.

A daily devotional to guide the reader through the difficult experiences and feelings after losing a loved one. To be alone in sorrow is not all bad. We need time alone for life to re-sort itself. But a companion in grief is helpful, especially when speaking from personal experience and with sound, practical wisdom and comfort of God's Word. This little book offers a healthy, self-directed path to understanding God's will for us in our grief.