Grieving as a young adult or student can feel like an isolating and overwhelming experience. It might seem like no one really understands what you’re going through. While it is not an everyday topic, it is more common than you may realise, and support is available. Whether it’s through peer support, university services, or specialist organisations, there are ways to help you cope and feel supported. 

Why does bereavement make you feel this way?

Some students will have experienced a significant loss before coming to University. Others may lose someone significant during University. Either way, grief can have a lasting impact on our lives. 

Grief can affect so many areas of your life and wellbeing, including your concentration, studies, motivation, sleep, relationships, and mental health. Students often tell us they feel isolated in their grief, unsure how to talk about it, especially when they are meeting so many people for the first time, or everyone else seems to just be having a great time.  

It’s also common to feel uncertain about talking about the person who has died. You might not know how to start, worry about upsetting others, feel exhausted, or want to avoid stigma, especially if the loss was due to suicide. 

There is no right or wrong way to grieve, and different feelings are likely to crop up at different times for us all. We hope the range of support shared here helps you feel less alone and more able to trust that you are not 'grieving the wrong way'.

What can you do to help now

Grief can feel overwhelming, but there are some things you can do to help:

• If you’ve been holding back tears, you might allow yourself to cry somewhere safe, in your room, in the park, with a friend, with a Student Support Advisor, or even on the phone with someone you trust
  
• If you’ve been coping alone, reach out. Tell someone you trust, call a helpline, or visit Student Support for a chat, even saying a little can be a huge relief.
• Write down how you are feeling in a notebook or on your phone, this can help you process your emotions.
  
• Take a walk and get some fresh air. It won’t take your grief away, but it might help you breathe more easily for a while.
  
• Try to do something you normally enjoy that is good for your wellbeing, such as exercise, cooking, reading or just moving your body. This can help ground you so that things feel less overwhelming. You might have less energy than usual so it's ok to do these more slowly than you are used to.
• Allow yourself some time to remember the person you’ve lost. You might try:
  
  • Looking through old photos.
    
  • Listening to music that reminds you of them.
  • Writing down your thoughts in a journal.
    
  • Doing something that makes you feel connected to them.

Our monthly Bereavement Social Group meets on the first Tuesday of each month. It’s a relaxed, welcoming space for anyone whose grief, whether recent or long-standing, is affecting their wellbeing.

Helpful Videos to watch

These videos offer some useful tips and relatable experiences around grief.

• Joey Essex talks with young people who share their relatable experiences of grief (5 minute watch)

• Grieving at Nighttime: Grief Advice from an Expert by Headspace explores how you can deal with grieving at night time and how it can often affect your sleep (10 minute watch)

Helpful Podcasts

Listening to podcasts can be a good way to listen to shared experiences or help you in the moment.

• Griefcast is a multi-award-winning podcast where comedians and creatives share stories of loss with honesty and humour. UK-based, deeply relatable, and often gently funny despite the theme.
• Grief in Common is a youth-led podcast by Winston’s Wish where young people share honest conversations about their grief and encourage the listeners to talk openly about their own grief journeys.
• Feeling Overwhelmed helps regulate emotions to regain calm and composure. (12 minute listen)
• Finding Calm podcast discusses breathing and how to find calm in the moment. (10 Minute listen)

Helpful Apps

• The Grief Works app is a structured programme of actionable steps that interactively guides people through their grief, to create their own healing journey.
• The Be Well app is full of resources that can help your overall wellbeing or calm you in times of difficulty.
  
• Untangle offers a collection of over 120 therapeutic wellness tools for coping with grief, as well as virtual grief support groups.

Useful books

Books can be a useful way to process your grief and help you to understand how you feel. We have some of these books at our Bereavement Group. Please contact the group if you’d like to browse them before you buy.  

• You Are Not Alone by Cariad Lloyd (host of Griefcast)
• Notes on Grief  by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 
  
• Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Dr. Julie Smith – Chapter on Grief
  
• The Student Grief Zine- A PDF Zine by the New Normal.

Helpful websites and social media handles

These websites provide some helpful information and experiences:

• Grief Encounter offers information and support to people of all ages and has specific ideas and a guide for young adults.  
• Cruse Bereavement Support is a national charity that offers lots of information for understanding and managing your grief, as well as live chat and phone support every day (see their website for opening hours). 
• Child Bereavement UK is a national UK charity supporting children, young people, parents, and families when a child is grieving or when a child dies. They have a range of resources for young people who have experienced a bereavement and they also offer support and guidance to parents and caregivers grieving for a baby or child. 
• Child Bereavement UK has a useful page for when someone may have died by suicide, which offers guidance on what might help and finding the right words to say when someone has or may have died by suicide. 
• Talk Grief helps grieving teenagers and young adults (ages 13–25) feel seen and supported by offering expert-led advice, real-life stories, and confidential bereavement services online
  
• UKCISA have a useful Dealing with grief when studying abroad guide, with tips from real students

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, our how to support a friend feeling suicidal guide offers practical tips and support.

There are many social media accounts dedicated to supporting people through bereavement, from sharing stories of pain, confusion and loss to remembering and celebrating the lives of loved ones.

• Grief Kid
• The New Normal Charity

People you can talk to

If grief is making it difficult for you to connect, impact your wellbeing or just something you want to talk about, there are people able to listen and support.

Groups

• The charity Lets Talk About Loss runs meet ups across the UK (the nearest to Bath is currently Bristol) for young people aged 18-35 encouraging everyone to talk about grief. 

• If you’d like to connect with others going through grief, The New Normal runs 25-30 online support meetings per month for a range of experience and identities. These include a monthly Young Adult Good Grief (18–35s), in partnership with the Student Grief Network, as well as groups like Boys Talk, Girls Talk, Black and Brown Good Grief, Queer Good Grief, Parental Loss, and Partner Loss.

National Helplines 

• Grief Encounter have a support line weekdays 9.30am-3pm, which connect you to an experienced bereavement team.
• HOPEline UK: A confidential helpline that can support young people to focus on staying safe from suicide, enabling, offering guidance and advice.
• Winston’s Wish provides free, accessible grief support including tailored information, helpline and live-chat services, peer support, and resources for bereaved children and young people across the UK up to age 25.
• You can also contact Samaritans for 24/7 support over the phone or email, their self-help app or even writing a letter.
  

University Support

• Student Support runs an in person Bereavement Social Group once a month.
• If a recent or historical bereavement is affecting your studies, speak to your Academic Advisor so they are aware you are going through a difficult time and can discuss support with you, including any extensions or mitigating circumstances.
• Our Student Support Advice Team offer 1:1 support even if you just want to talk something through with them. If appropriate they can also refer you to the counselling service to help you in your bereavement.
  
• The University Chaplaincy is also available to all students of all faiths and none, offering a quiet space, a listening ear, or spiritual guidance.
  

Final thoughts

Grief looks and feels different for everyone. However, you're experiencing it, you're not alone, and you’re not “doing it wrong.” There’s support available if you need it.

This page was created in partnership with students and Student Support.