What support is available to me if I am grieving?
If you have lost someone important to you it can be emotionally devastating - whether that’s a partner, family member, friend or pet. It is natural to go through grief: a range of physical and emotional processes as you gradually adjust to the loss.
There is no ‘right’ way to grieve and we each react in our own way. Some people are able to carry on almost normally; others may feel for a time as if they are falling apart; most find at some stage that it helps to talk.
Support
Often the support of your family and friends is enough to help you through a bereavement, as one of the most helpful things you can do is to talk about the person who has died and your relationship with them.
But sometimes, particularly if you are away from home and there has not been the opportunity to grieve and be present for the funeral and other rituals around the death, or relationship with the deceased was complicated, you may feel stuck and unable to function.
This is when reaching out for professional support for bereavement can really help.
Centre for Wellbeing
If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope at any point, you can make an appointment to see a wellbeing adviser or counsellor at the Centre for Wellbeing, located on the east side of the Stag Hill campus. You can also complete an online registration form to book an appointment with a member of the counselling team.
The Centre is open Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm, excluding bank holidays and University closure days. Contact the Centre on +44 (0)1483 689498 or drop in during our opening hours.
Thrivewell
Our new service Thrivewell can also offer support. Thrivewell is a mental health and emotional wellbeing service which can help with a range of related issues caused by bereavement such as anxiety and low mood. You can contact Thrivewell via our email; thrivewell@surrey.ac.uk.
Anything disclosed to Thrivewell or Centre for Wellbeing staff will not be shared outside of the Centre for Wellbeing (even with other University services), except in exceptional circumstances where it is felt necessary to do so in order to prevent anyone coming to harm.
You may wish to contact Cruse Bereavement Care, a specialist bereavement charity which offers confidential and non-judgmental bereavement support one-to-one or in groups and visit here on campus.
These links take you through to further useful support information:
These are some specialist bereavement charities:
- Road crash: BRAKE, Roadpeace or SCARD
- Cardiac conditions or sudden cardiac death: SADS UK
- Cancer: RipRap (support for when a parent has cancer) or Hospicecare (hospice information and support)
- Widowed: WAY (support for young widowed men and women)
- Babies: stillbirth or neonatal death: SANDS or miscarriage Miscarriage Association, Babyloss
- Murder and manslaughter support: SAMM
- Suicide: SOBS
- Pet bereavement: BlueCross
Doctor
You can seek help from a GP. There are a number of surgeries located in Guildford. Find out which one is closest to where you live on our register with a GP page.
Friends and family
Talking to friends and family can be a good way to gain help and support for any issues that you are facing.
Bereavement Café
The Bereavement Café is there to enable students to safety and confidentially, talk and express their emotions about any bereavement they may have experienced that may be impacting them. This usually takes place on Wednesday afternoons in Manor Park Social.
Run exclusively for students experiencing grief, it is a space to reflect or openly discuss thoughts and feelings with peers going through a similar experience. This is a small group that is organised by the Students’ Union and facilitated by the Religious Life and Belief Centre in a pastoral manner but with no religious connection or connotations.
To arrange an appointment, or to find out more about our bereavement counselling services, please get in touch with the Religious Life and Belief Centre.