In this episode, I speak to Emma Tomes. Emma experienced a heartbreaking bereavement to suicide after her son’s father lost his struggle with poor mental health. After working through her own grief Emma is now giving people help that supports positive mental health and prevents other families from experiencing loss due to poor mental health.

In this episode we cover:

• The grieving process following the suicide of Emma's Husband
• How does this impact Emma's son
• How this moment changed the way Emma interacts with people dealing with grief
• How to handle difficult conversations around death
• What motivated Emma to go on to help others
• Why Men are actually good at speaking about their emotions but it depends on the space
• Conflicting emotions during the grieving process
• Pressures to be strong around family members
• The difficulty of dealing with grief in the workplace
• The quiet period that people experience after the funeral of a loved one
• Be kind, you really never know what is going on with those around you

A note from Emma's website:

People often ask me why I do what I do. Well, in 2010 I experienced a heartbreaking bereavement to suicide. Sadly, my son’s father, lost his struggle with poor mental health.

My son and I faced the challenges and adversity that came with this traumatic experience. This bereavement to suicide contributed towards experiencing a downward spiral of declining mental health. The ‘’just keep swimming’’ mantra, so prevalent in society, became unmanageable. I was drowning and recognised I needed HELP.

While researching my way back to good mental health, using tools such as GRM (The Grief Recovery Method ®), Mindfulness and NLP, I discovered that truly HELPful support was hard to find. My realisation that I needed help brought about a motivation to survive and thrive from my experience.

I am a proactive and HELPful coach. I use my credentials as a Master NLP practitioner, Grief Recovery Method® Specialist and Mindfulness Teacher to provide an all-encompassing approach that has resulted in helping over 1000 people. My mission is to provide people with HELP that supports positive mental health and prevent other families from experiencing loss due to poor mental health.

In all my coaching and training, I apply Honesty and Empathy while really Listening and giving Practical advice that makes a difference. Because it’s OK to ask for HELP.

Emma.

https://helpfulcoach.co.uk/about/