Navigating grief and loss

Rainbow Bridge

A supportive community with advice, stories, and resources for grieving pet carers. They also offer the children’s workbook I Miss My Pet: A Workbook for Children About Pet Loss to help younger family members understand and process their feelings.

Blue Cross Pet Bereavement Service

Free and confidential phone or email support from trained volunteers who can listen, offer reassurance, and share practical advice when you need it most.

Cats Protection - Paws to Listen

A free, confidential phone line for anyone experiencing pet-related grief, no matter how recent or long ago the loss.

The Ralph site

A comprehensive online resource covering everything from making end-of-life decisions to coping with loss and supporting others who are grieving.

Animal Samaritans Grief Helpline

Offering understanding, advice, and a kind listening ear to anyone facing the sadness of losing a pet.

The Ease Animal Charity

Provides a wide range of free online resources, tools, and articles to help you work through the emotions and challenges of losing your companion.

The Good Grief Trust

Bringing bereavement services together so anyone affected by grief can access the right support from day one. Run by the bereaved, for the bereaved, they aim to normalise grief, offer hope, and connect people to tailored help that makes the pain a little easier to bear.

The Grief Channel

Grief can be incredibly tough, but is a natural part of life and can be transformative, instead of being something to be feared and locked away. The Grief Channel’s mission is to share knowledge, research and stories that people can relate to, and to provide solace and practical support for those navigating loss.

What’s Your Grief?

Created by two mental health professionals who have each experienced significant personal loss- both death and non-death - and have dealt with life after. Their YouTube channel offers honest, practical, and creative approaches to help its viewers do the same. It’s a supportive space for those who want direct guidance without clichés.

Sharon Rowan

Providing non-judgemental support for those grieving a pet as deeply as any family member.

Holding a specialist diploma in grief and bereavement counselling, Sharon is based in Farnborough, Hampshire and has extensive experience supporting clients through loss. She recognises that losing a pet can be as painful as losing any family member and that others’ attitudes can make grieving harder. Sharon provides a non-judgemental space to explore thoughts, feelings, and memories, helping clients process loss in their own way.

T: 07584 212537
E: hello@sharonrowancounselling.co.uk
W: https://sharonrowancounselling.co.uk

Amanda J.Bouvier

Creating a safe space for people, especially those with ADHD or Autism, to navigate pet loss.

A dedicated animal lover, Amanda is a Senior Psychotherapist and Counsellor with nearly two decades of experience supporting adults, children, and adolescents. She specialises in pet loss, particularly for clients with ADHD and/or Autism. After losing her own beloved rescue cat Stanley, Amanda trained with the Blue Cross and volunteered on their Pet Bereavement Support Service, providing telephone counselling to grieving owners. Now working from her private practice in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, she provides a safe, non-judgemental space for people to process grief, including those caring for terminally ill pets and facing difficult decisions around euthanasia.

T: 07775 773396 (Please text and/or leave a voicemail.)
E: therapyamanda@btinternet.com

Carrie Kearns

Bringing decades of veterinary experience to gentle, understanding bereavement support.

With over 20 years of experience in the veterinary sector, Carrie has been present for many losses, both expected and sudden, and brings that understanding to her counselling work. Beginning her career in veterinary practice in 1999, she went on to qualify in Pet Bereavement Counselling and as a Veterinary Care Assistant. Carrie tailors each session to the individual, offering calm, understanding support to help people untangle their emotions and find ways forward.

T: 07522 202498
W: www.animalbereavementcounselling.com

Kirsty Godsell

Combining counselling, herbalism, and nature walks to help pet carers find peace and healing.

Since 2013, Kirsty has supported pet carers through every stage of loss and end-of-life care in the veterinary industry. She offers both one-to-one and family group sessions, helping clients make informed decisions and memorialise their pets. Alongside traditional counselling, Kirsty runs “‘local to you” walking sessions in natural settings, which ease the anxiety of visiting a counsellor and make use of nature’s therapeutic benefits. Her lifelong passion for herbalism allows her to draw on natural remedies to help clients process grief and create positive lasting memories.

T: 07595 304461
E: klgodsell@gmail.com

Sam Potter

Offering a compassionate ear, and walk-and-talk sessions in nature, to honour the pets we love.

Based in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Sam is a qualified Pet Bereavement Counsellor who also works in the Ambulance Service and teaches Canine First Aid and Body Language. His own life with retrievers has deepened his understanding of the human–animal bond, and he offers a compassionate space for clients to share memories and express emotions. His local walk-and-talk sessions provide a supportive way to talk while surrounded by nature.

T: 07737 506587
E: sam@potterpaws.co.uk
W: www.potterpaws.co.uk/pet-bereavement-support

Susan Wilding

Specialising in virtual, empathetic support for anyone experiencing the loss of a companion animal.

Since qualifying as a counsellor in 2016, Susan has specialised in supporting people through the loss of a companion animal. Having shared her life with dogs, she understands the profound grief that follows their passing, especially when others dismiss them as “just a pet.” A member of both the Association of Pet Bereavement Counsellors and the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, Susan offers a professional, compassionate virtual service tailored to each client.

E: pathtoyoucounselling@gmail.com
W: 07985358761

Gemma Ridge

Providing compassionate, specialist support for pet carers before and after loss.

Gemma is a BACP-accredited psychotherapist with over 10 years’ experience and specialist training in pet bereavement. With both professional and personal insight, she supports pet carers through anticipatory grief, end-of-life decisions and the complex emotions that can follow saying goodbye, including guilt, regret, anxiety and trauma. Trained in Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Gemma works with loss, attachment, PTSD and relationship issues that often underpin pet loss, offering a safe, non-judgemental space to feel heard and supported. Based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, she offers online sessions via Zoom or Teams, as well as telephone appointments.

W: www.gemmaridge.com

Kate Lindsay

Offering relational, trauma-informed support for adults navigating grief and loss.

Kate is a BACP-registered integrative therapist who supports adults experiencing grief, including the often-overlooked loss of a beloved companion animal. She works with people whose grief feels deep, complex or difficult to put into words, offering a compassionate, non-judgemental space where their experience can be honoured and understood. With a relational and trauma-informed approach, Kate helps clients gently make sense of their loss at their own pace. She offers online therapy to clients across the UK, with flexible appointment times and concessionary fees available.

E: kate@bridgeandbloomtherapy.co.uk
T: 01252 837306