This is something I’ve never really shared with anyone before - I think it’s safe to say that after I lost my mum I was really struggling. I’d never experience pain like that before. What struck me most about grief is that it has a way of making you feel alone no matter how strong your support network is.

I worked hard to come to terms with what had happened for well over a year and came to the decision that I needed professional help.

My wife researched places that may be able to help and stumbled across Maggie’s. They offered a group grief counselling session with several other people that had been through similar experiences.

If I’m honest I didn’t really feel that comfortable about discussing my feelings in a room full of strangers but after meeting Rowan and hearing about how beneficial it has been for others I decided to give it a shot. And I’m so pleased I did.

The sessions were 2 hours every week for 6 weeks and by the end of it i had made a real connection to everyone on the course. We laughed together and cried together but more importantly I feel like we healed together. Nothing can fill the hole that losing my mum left but my time at Maggie’s taught me it was alright to have bad days, I just needed the right outlook to turn them into good days.