"Bereavement"

My best friend for over 55 years died within 6 weeks of being diagnosed with terminal cancer. I was absolutely devastated, I felt so lost and couldn’t imagine my life without her in it, nothing made any sense anymore, my grief was off the scales, I felt like I was unable to breathe, I’ve never felt so low,I didn’t want to go out or socialise, this was all so alien to me as I’ve always been a very social person.

It was a very difficult step for me to ring GMBS as I’m normally a very private person, but I’m so glad I did, from the first phone call with my therapist she made me feel at ease, I thought it would be very hard to confide in a stranger but she was so patient and understanding, she let me go at my own pace and even when I was so overwhelmed with grief that I completely fell apart she was so understanding and caring, I never thought I would be able to talk about how I was feeling or how everything was overwhelming me, but my therapist was so understanding and supportive, she made sure I knew that she or one of her colleagues was at the end of the phone if I ever needed to speak to someone before our next telephone conversation, I felt so much better about things knowing that when I got overwhelmed or started to have an anxiety attack there was someone at the end of the phone who cared.

I shall be forever grateful for all her compassion and support over the last 10 months, I will never forget her kindness, and it’s given me the strength to move forward for talking therapy, which my therapist helped me arrange by sending me links and gently encouraging me that I did have the strength to move forward should I wish to do so, and that I was a very strong person for taking the next step, which I know now I had to do as part of my recovery, I will be forever grateful.