the good grief is a safe space for people who are living with grief, and those who love someone living with grief and wonder what they can do to support them.

I have no tertiary qualifications in grief, just lived experience, but from what I can work out, unless you can bring back the person that has passed, no one can make it better.

I’m not sure there is a right way to grieve. I am sure there are some ways that make it harder. I know we all grieve differently.

When my 37-year-old sister died in April 2013, I was overwhelmed with grief. I saw a psychologist who told me something that I still think about. She told me to find a place in my heart for the pain to sit, that I was never going to feel better about my sister dying, so not to try to. In that moment she gave me permission for my very big feelings.

Throughout these pages you will find some of my grief stories as well as what navigating living with grief looks like for me. You’ll find some resources, too.

I don’t only write about grief …

I also write on behalf of others. I give warmth to words that may otherwise feel a little cool. I have written countless LinkedIn bios, I write for international brands to help localise their copy and as an ex-beauty therapist I have written for skincare brands and hotel day spas, too.

After too many years only mentally penning it, the good grief is a book with some of my grief stories, a tribute to my late sister, Wendy, fictionalised amongst three school friends on a trip to Italy to celebrate their 50th birthdays. It’s a story about female friendship, navigating peri menopause, and living with grief, under the delicious backdrop of an Italian summer, guided by my first visit to Italy last year, the year Wendy would’ve turned 50.

I hope you find something amongst these pages that gives you warmth.

xx Clare