Guidance on grief and support

How to cope with grief in the first weeks after a death: what is normal, what helps, what to avoid, whether the stages apply, and when to get help.

What to write in a sympathy card or condolence message: what to say, phrases to avoid, a colleague, sending a card late, and example lines to start from.

Should children go to the funeral: usually yes, if they want to and are prepared. What the charities advise, how to prepare a child, and what if they say no.

Grieving far from home, when the funeral was in another country: missing the funeral, the rituals you cannot keep, no one who knew them, and what helps.

How to support someone who is grieving, practically: what to do in the first fortnight and the months after, how to offer so it is accepted, and what to avoid.

Planning a memorial service after a direct cremation: what a memorial usually contains, where to hold it, the ashes, whether you need a celebrant, and the size.

Saying goodbye when there is no funeral to attend, after a direct cremation or a funeral abroad: the viewing, the hour you hold yourself, and the memorial.

When a death is expected: what you can arrange in advance, the conversations worth having now, the funeral and the paperwork you can settle, and what must wait.

Grief at Christmas and on the first anniversaries: why the days with a date are the hardest, why the dread is worse than the day, and the decision that helps.

Funeral etiquette in the UK: what to wear, flowers or a donation, arriving and sitting, what to say at the door, the wake, and what changes by faith.

How grief affects your body: the stress response, broken sleep, appetite, aches and chest pain, the immune system, what is normal, and what needs a doctor.

What bereavement means, and what you are entitled to in the UK: Bereavement Support Payment and its deadline, bereavement leave and the law, and the other help.

What happens after a funeral: the morning after, the small practical things, the one piece of paperwork with a deadline, the silence when everyone has gone.

How to tell a child that someone has died: today, in plain words, by age from under five to teenagers, what each age understands, and what children need after.

When to get bereavement counselling and where to find it in the UK: the sign, the GP route, Cruse, Sue Ryder, NHS talking therapies, and the crisis lines.

What to say when someone dies, in person, by message or in a card: the three things that always work, the six phrases that land badly, and why.

Is it normal to feel relief, or nothing, when someone dies: yes to both. Why relief follows a long illness, why numbness follows any death, and the shame.

The stages of grief: the five, the seven, where they came from in 1969, why they were never a timetable for bereavement, and what services describe instead.

How long grief lasts: there is no timetable, but there is a shape. The first weeks and months, the six-month question, the first year's anniversaries.