Let’s Talk About Loss- Peer-led meet ups for 18-35 year olds

Let’s Talk About Loss is a safe space for young people to talk through the realities of losing someone you love. Evidence suggests that 16-29-year olds are the most likely to hide their grief and bottle up their emotions when suffering a bereavement. Let’s Talk About Loss aims to encourage conversations and remove the stigma around discussions of grief, through creating an environment of understanding and support. Let’s Talk About Loss also now have a book which you can order here. It consists of letters that have been written by people who have lost those at a young age. It tells stories that encompasses all types of loss and it talks honestly about grief - ‘the sad, the bad, and the surprisingly beautiful.’

In order to ‘talk through the taboo’, Let’s Talk About Loss organises peer-led meetup groups for young people aged 18-35 who have been bereaved. Meeting others who have also experienced loss can enable young people to share stories and discuss the struggles of grief openly, without the fear and judgement that often hinders these discussions. Unlike support groups or counselling sessions, these meetups involve social activities such as bowling and pottery painting, where attendees can create open friendships with a group of people who happen to have experienced a similar loss. There are over 300 locations so you can enter your location on to the search function here to see which one is closest to you. If there are no meet ups close to you, you still have the option to join in virtually here!

Along with their monthly meetups across the UK, Let’s Talk About Loss run one-off events and workshops, many of which are continuing virtually. ‘Creative Writing About Loss’ and ‘Spoken Word for Grief’ are two short online workshops that discuss the benefits of writing and using spoken word to express the feelings associated with loss.

Let’s Talk About Loss’s blog is a place where guest posts are published; allowing writers to share their feelings with others who may relate. Similarly, the Bereavement Book Club is an open community of young people, aiming to continue the conversation around death through reading. Whilst experiencing grief can feel complicated and impossible to explain in words, many authors have managed to encapsulate these feelings beautifully. Each month a new book and its themes are discussed, and although all genres are included, one theme remains constant: the experience of losing a loved one.