ABOUT

the good grief

THE SPACE

a safe space for people living with grief

the good grief is a safe space for people who are living with grief, and those who love someone living with grief and wonder what they can do to support them.

I have no tertiary qualifications in grief, just lived experience, but from what I can work out, unless you can bring back the person that has passed, no one can make it better.

I'm not sure there is a right way to grieve. I am sure there are some ways that make it harder, but I don't know if there is a right way. We all grieve differently.

When my 37-year-old sister died in April 2013, I was overwhelmed with grief. I saw a psychologist who told me something that I still think about. She told me to find a place in my heart for the pain to sit, that I was never going to feel better about my sister dying, so not to try. In that moment she gave me permission for my very big feelings, and with it a sense of relief.

"find a place in your heart for the pain to sit."

— A GRIEF PSYCHOLOGIST

THE WRITER

by clare l elsworth

I'm Clare, but until his last day, my dad called me Blondie. Blondie blue eyes. I grew up as the only fair-haired child of four. Both my sisters and my brother all dark haired, just like our parents. As a teenager I was embarrassed running down a basketball court hearing my dad scream out, "Go, Blondie!". Now I wish he was here to call me Blondie whenever he wanted. That's life though I guess.

In 2017, when Connie Johnson passed away, Mia Freedman gave me the honour of writing a piece on grief for Mamamia. She asked me to write it as though I was writing a letter to Connie's brother, Sam. Dear Sam, I lost my sister too, here's what I'd like you to know.

Those words flowed so easily that day. Perhaps not surprisingly as unbeknownst to Mia, it would've been Wendy's birthday, and I was feeling pretty raw.

Throughout these pages you will find some of my grief stories as well as what navigating living with grief looks like for me. You'll find some resources, too.

“I don't only write about grief…

I also write on behalf of others. I give warmth to words that may otherwise feel a little cool, particularly in the tech space. I have written countless LinkedIn bios, I write for international brands to help localise their copy and as an ex-beauty therapist I have written for skincare brands and hotel day spas, too.

After too many years only mentally penning it, the good grief is a book with some of my grief stories, a tribute to my late sister, Wendy, fictionalised amongst three school friends on a trip to Italy to celebrate their 50th birthdays. It's a story about female friendship, navigating peri menopause, and living with grief, under the delicious backdrop of an Italian summer, guided by my first visit to Italy last year, the year Wendy would've turned 50.

I hope you find something amongst these pages that gives you warmth.

xx Clare