A private one-to-one space
A calm place to speak openly about what has changed, without having to protect other people's feelings.
Living Alongside Grief
When a beloved pet dies, the quiet can feel enormous.
Pet loss can change the shape of your days, your home, and your sense of who you are. This is a gentle place to bring the love, the pain, and everything that feels difficult to explain.
For dogs, cats, and other beloved companion animals
Understanding pet bereavement
Pet loss is real grief.
Your pet may have been part of your morning, your evenings, your decisions, and the way you felt at home. When they die, familiar routines can suddenly feel empty.
Pet bereavement is its own kind of loss. It deserves to be met on its own terms, without comparing it with anyone else's. You do not have to make the loss smaller by calling them “only a pet.” They were part of your relationship and your life.
The shape of the loss can be everywhere
The routines you shared
The quiet in your home
The role you held each day
The identity of being their person
The depth of your grief reflects the place this relationship held in your life.
Make room for your experience
You do not have to grieve perfectly.
You may feel sadness, guilt, anger, numbness, relief, uncertainty, or several of these in the same day. A feeling can be present without telling the whole story of your love.
There is no fixed timetable and no correct order. If you are grieving a dog, cat, or another companion animal, you are welcome here, whatever your grief looks like today.
“You can miss them deeply and still have moments when you breathe, smile, or feel relief.”
All of it can belong in an honest conversation. You do not need to edit your experience before you bring it.
A gentle place to begin
How I can support you
You do not need to arrive with the right words or a clear plan. We can start with what feels most present and find a pace that respects your relationship and your needs.
Room for the relationship
Time to talk about your pet, your bond, and the goodbye in words that feel natural to you.
Gentle help with hard feelings
Support as you make sense of emotional overwhelm, guilt, anger, numbness, or the what-ifs.
A clear, human pace
We can notice what you need today and take one considered step at a time, with no fixed timetable.
A flexible framework
The G.R.I.E.F Method
The G.R.I.E.F Method offers gentle points of focus for the work of living alongside loss. It is a flexible framework, not a fixed grief timetable. You may return to a step, pause, or need something different entirely.
G
Ground
Find a little steadiness in the middle of a day that may feel unfamiliar.
R
Release
Make room for feelings, questions, and words that have been held in.
I
Integrate
Honour your pet's place in your story as routines and home life begin to change.
E
Expand
Gently explore who you are now and what support may help you live alongside grief.
F
Flourish
Make room for meaning, connection, and a future that still carries the love you shared.
Support for people, and the animals who have been part of their lives.
Living Alongside Grief is a page within Grief Recovery with Gwen, created to make space for pet bereavement with care and respect.
Experience you can lean on
A calm, experienced person to talk to
I'm Gwen, a certified hypnotherapist, RTT® Practitioner, and EFT specialist. My work is informed by more than 35 years of NHS nursing and midwifery experience, alongside lived experience of loss.
I offer a steady, human space where the relationship, the goodbye, and the feelings that are difficult to explain can be spoken about without judgment. We begin with where you are, not where you think you should be.
Certified hypnotherapist
RTT® Practitioner
EFT specialist
35+ years NHS nursing and midwifery experience
A gentle first conversation
Begin with a free 30-minute Clarity & Calm consultation.
This first conversation is free, with no pressure, no obligation, and no expectation that you continue. It is simply a chance to talk and see whether this feels like the right kind of support for you.
Choose local face-to-face support or meet online via Zoom.
A gentle boundary: This page offers bereavement support. It is not veterinary advice, emergency or crisis care, or a replacement for appropriate medical or NHS support. If you need urgent help, please contact emergency services or NHS 111.