Loss and grief at work: how to talk, offer support and help sensitively while maintaining boundaries

Loss does not stay at the office door. Sooner or later, almost everyone will face a situation at work in which a colleague loses someone close to them, a team is grieving the death of one of its members, or their own life changes after a profound loss. At times like these, the usual rules of working life can seem to stop working: people do not know what to say, are afraid of causing more pain, and fall back on silence, formality or awkward phrases. This course helps you understand how to talk, offer support and respond to loss and grief — with care, calmly and without feeling helpless. You will learn what happens to a person after a loss, how grief affects attention, the body, work and communication, how to support a colleague without intruding, how to act when an entire team is grieving, and how to look after yourself during a difficult period. This is a practical course for employees who want to be part of a mature, thoughtful and humane working environment, where people are not left alone at difficult times and their pain is not treated as taboo.