Emma Tomes is a licensed and certified Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist with a passion for helping children and adults to move beyond loss.

Children and young people can feel a range of difficult emotions in grief, such as anger, irritability, anxiety and sadness.  They may not be able to sleep well, find it hard to concentrate, or become withdrawn and feel lonely.  They may have physical aches and pains.

The intensity of one emotion may differ to the next.  There’s no one way to grieve – and every person’s experience of grief and loss is unique.

And because children and young people are still growing and maturing, their understanding of grief and loss will be developing as well.  They may find it hard to express themselves.  Their behaviour may be changeable, prone to outbursts or recklessness.  Or they may withdraw into themselves and hide away.

Parents, carers, teachers and anyone who works with children, can be provided with specific tools to help children and teenagers cope and recover from their grief and loss.

The Helping Children with Loss programme uses techniques from The Grief Recovery Method® that have been specifically adapted for use with children.  The programme was created with the awareness that adverse childhood events can have a permanent impact on a person’s wellbeing.

About Emma…..

“I’m so proud to be able to say my sessions have enabled people to release the pain from their grief so they can build a happier life.

Looking forward to a future, bright with possibility, is so important.  But it hasn’t always been this way.  In 2010, my heart was truly broken when my former partner ended his life by suicide.  I was absolutely devastated – and not just because he was one of my closest friends but because we also had a son.

Overnight, I found myself experiencing overwhelming feelings of loss, guilt and sadness.  I wasn’t at all prepared for how these intense feelings would change my life, and my son’s.

What followed was years of feeling weighed down by unresolved grief. I didn’t know where to turn to for help.  I was stuck.  I felt so alone but I couldn’t give up because I had my children to care for.  And then I discovered The Grief Recovery Method®.

Following a structured 8-week course, I became equipped with the essential tools I needed to recover. Moving beyond grief made me feel lighter and happier.  Not only that, I had first-hand knowledge of how to help my children with loss and grief.  As a parent, this was one of the most important things I could ever do.

The Grief Recovery Method® was exactly what I’d been searching for.  I felt I’d been given the keys to open the door to the rest of my life!

Now, I’m licensed and certified as an Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist through Grief UK to help individuals identify and build their own tools for recovery.  And I’m a certified Mental Health Instructor with Mental Health First Aid England helping people to recognise the signs of poor mental health.”

Emma Tomes offers 2 programmes - one is designed for working with adults 1 to 1 and the other is the ‘Helping Children with Loss’ course which is completed over 4 sessions with a max of 8 people in the group.

If you would like to read more about the programmes, find details of upcoming course dates or contact Emma then please visit The Helpful Coach on Facebook.