Counsellors to offer support to students dealing with grief

Students struggling with bereavement are invited to a new support group at the university.

The university’s counselling service will be holding three sessions this term, to help students process their loss in a safe and confidential space.

The group will be meeting for an hour each week, for three weeks. The first meeting will be on Tuesday February 25 at 2:30pm, in room CL119 on Francis Close Hall campus.

The first session will look at what bereavement is and how it feels, as well as different types of bereavement. The second will involve sharing memories of loved ones who have died, and the third will explore the impact of bereavement on our physical and mental health and ways we can support ourselves through it.

The group has been set up by two of the university’s counsellors, Kate Simpson and Christine Burden.

They said: “We believe that experiencing loss can be one of the most painful experiences of life but is also an inevitability at some point in our lives.

“It is our intention that being part of this group will allow participants to understand that feelings following a bereavement are natural, unique and diverse.

“Furthermore, that by honouring our loss and loved ones through sharing and expression, we can foster hope and enable each person in the group to live a life that doesn’t forget but feels free to feel, and with this eventually find a way of living fully alongside your loss.”

To book a place in the group, email Annette Brill at abrill@glos.ac.uk. Please note that numbers are limited to 10 participants and the group may not run if not enough people are signed up.