Elinor Wynne Lloyd
grief companion, coach & mentor
elinor@wynnelloyd.com +44 (0)7930 422586
supporting you
through grief, loss
& bereavement
'Loss is intrinsic to the human experience, whether it be loss of youth, or health, or the ending of a joyous day, or the finishing of a relationship, or, of course, the death of a loved one.
But in order to live truly, to experience life fully, we need to be able to accept that. We sometimes need to be able to sit with the pain and to accept discomfort.
And at the far end of the spectrum of loss is grief, which is one of the greatest manifestations of psychological pain that we can go through.'
Julia Samuel ('Grief Works' 2017)
grief awareness resources
There is a wealth of excellent material around. Books, Instagram accounts, podcasts, blogs, YouTube, resources on charity websites.
These are a few (I will keep adding others) which have really inspired me, so I share them with you. As you explore further, you will find what resonates with you.
Julia Samuel
A grief psychotherapist with three decades of working with the bereaved, she describes in her book 'Grief Works - Stories of Life, Death, and Surviving' (publ. 2017) her patients' stories of loss, the process of 'recovery', showing us how to live through and learn from great loss.
@griefworksprogramme on Instagram offers sensitive nuggets of wisdom and practical tools. The Grief Works programme offers free webinars and resources, but also an app.
Read more about Julia and her work at https://www.griefworks.com/
Cariad Lloyd
In her inspiring award-winning podcast 'Griefcast' she and her guests talk openly and honestly, with depth and humour side by side, about death and dying. Cariad's father died when she was 15. Some of her guests in the last decade include Rev. Richard Coles, Jimmy Carr, Sara Pascoe, Monty Don, Greg Wise, and Marian Keyes. Cariad says 'Griefcast is a podcast that examines the human experience of grief and death - but with comedians, so it’s cheerier than it sounds.'
Her wonderful book 'you are not alone' (publ. 2023) is a glorious read, packed with wisdom, warmth, and honesty about her own experience as a 'griefster' in the 'grief club', working through her 'grief mess'. I found myself both weeping and laughing.
Instagram: @cariadlloyd
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'I lit the flame from the other candles, the other memories. I pushed it into the holder tightly. I pushed it in so that you wouldn't dare move.
I lit them for you. To say "He was here. He was bloody here."
These candles go out, but they were here, I know because I lit them.'
The final lines of Cariad Lloyd's poem 'I lit a candle for you.' You can read the whole poem on pages 85 - 86 of 'you are not alone'
'Everyday life is full of reminders and grief land mines that the non-grieving wouldn't even think of. When someone you love dies, you don't just lose them in the present or in the past. You lose the future you should have had, and might have had, with them.....The world is full of things connected to your grief. If there is anything that gives you even a moment's relief or respite, move towards that.'
Megan Devine 'It's OK that you're NOT OK' page 72
Megan Devine
Megan's husband Matt died 2009 in a drowning accident just before his 40th birthday. 'It was random, unexpected, and it tore my world apart.'
In her superb book, 'It's OK that you're NOT OK - Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn't Understand' (publ. 2017) ('real talk about grief, with no sugar-coating') she tells the truth about loss, in a way that is comforting, validating, and deeply honest and generous. She encourages us to look grief in the eye, to sit with it, to support ourselves and each other when we find ourselves in a place of profound loss and despair. From her own perspective as a psychotherapist and widow and from her work with others who are suffering.
Take a look at her website https://refugeingrief.com/ where there are resources, and a link to her podcast.
Instagram: @refugeingrief
Joanne Cacciatore
Joanne's newborn daughter Cheyenne died in 1994 and since then she has devoted herself to working with grieving people and to help them to find meaning again. Her book 'Bearing the Unbearable - Love, Loss, and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief' (2017) is just wonderful. It is a companion for life's most difficult timess, revealing how grief can open our hearts to connection and compassion, as we face love and loss. There are moving stories of individuals, families, and communities, as well as her own experience of loss. She opens a space for us to process, integrate, and deeply to honour our grief.
I also recommend her perfect pocket sized book Grieving is Loving - Compassionate Words for Bearing the Unbearable. Poems, reflections, quotations, and stories.
Instagram: @grief_doctor
Look for her on YouTube as Dr Joanne Cacciatore
'When we love deeply, we mourn deeply; extraordinary grief is an expression of extraordinary love. Grief and love mirror each other; one is not possible without the other.'
Joanne Cacciatore 'Bearing the Unbearable' publ. 2017
'All the beauty of this world is wet with the dew of tears'
Theodor Haecker
THE LOSS FOUNDATION
One of the most wonderful resources I've come across.
This National Bereavement Charity was founded in 2010 by clinical psychologist Erin Hope Thompson, following the death of her father to cancer in 2008, when she was 22 years old.
You'll find resources, research findings, training, information, and a vast and growing range of online and in person group support on thelossfoundation.org
Instagram: @thelossfoundation
books to dip into
When we are grieving, it can often be impossible to focus on anything.
These two little books, however, are lovely just to dip into. I have picked a few extracts from each.
echoes of love
a companion for living with loss
100 reflections for the grieving heart
esther roseglenn (2025)
'i used to know who i was.
now i look in the mirror
and search for someone
who still makes sense
in a world without them.'
'some days you don't want advice.
you want the person
who would just know.
who understood the parts of you
that didn't need fixing'
'grief can turn ordinary places
into sacred ground.
a chair.
a coat.
the way the light used to fall
when they were still here.'
Grieving Is Loving
compassionate words for bearing the unbearable
Joanna Cacciatore (2020)
'Rather than abating or diminishing us, grief holds the possibility of creating space to expand our hearts to the paradox of coexisting pain and love - for ourselves and others. We engage this process by feeling - and remembering.'
'Every tear you shed and all the countless tears shed by myriad others throughout time and space have become drops in the vast oceanic story of loving and grieving.'