Speaking of Death: What the Bereaved Really Need

Description

Talking about death and grief has become something of a modern taboo. Most of us would rather avoid the subject altogether because it makes us feel anxious and awkward. When Annie Broadbent's mum died, one of the hardest parts of her experience was seeing her friends and extended family paralysed by their fear of saying or doing the wrong thing. We will all be called upon at some point to help a friend or loved one cope with the death of someone they love. SPEAKING OF DEATH will help you do that. Frustrated and saddened by her own experience, Annie decided to share her story and the stories of others she has met, in order to shed light on the emotions felt by the bereaved and how best to support someone grieving for a loved one. The contributors differ in age, gender and background but all have experienced immediate loss, whether a child, parent, sibling, partner or close friend. Combined with expert advice from key charities, SPEAKING OF DEATH will help you navigate the common pitfalls, such as choosing appropriate words of comfort, making practical gestures of help, how to react to crying, when to offer a hug and how often to stay in touch. This moving and enlightening collection of voices from the shores of grief is an invaluable guide that will help anyone wanting to comfort a grieving loved one.

Annie Broadbent is a psychosynthesis counsellor and works in private practice in central London. She is also founder and director of workplace wellbeing company Retune, which offers customised wellbeing away days for business. Before writing her first book, We Need to Talk About Grief (now Speaking of Death), she trained as a clinical volunteer at St. Christopher's hospice and supported child bereavement events run by 'The Candle Project'. She does talks for Death Salons and Death Cafe's and occasionally writes for various publications on a number of mental health and wellbeing issues.

It is wonderful. Pitch perfect in tone and a very important book. It will help many people. We can only support and agree with Annie's brave attempt to put death talk on the map. These are very difficult conversations to have and this book will be a helpful tool to encourage those who want to help those suffering with grief to share some of their burden, especially in our "quick fix, easy answer" society. Wonderfully moving, relevant and important