Mental health issues can be hugely problematic at any time, but the situation can be made much worse by the loss of a loved one at this time, since this can add further trauma and also remove a key source of emotional and practical support.
An individual who has been through just such a situation is TV actress Ruby Barker, famous for her role in the Netflix costume drama Bridgerton.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, she revealed how she was impacted by the loss of her father to cancer earlier this year, coming months after she had been in hospital with mental health problems and had taken a career break to go travelling.
Discussing her experience of bereavement, Ms Barker said: “It’s hard to even put into words that feeling, that loss: it hit me really hard. I knew he was unwell but I didn’t know to what extent.”
She made a journey to Glasgow to see him in hospital, but arrived moments too late to see him before he passed. After this, she took an Uber and described herself as “hyperventilating” and was helped by the driver talking to her throughout the journey.
The actor added that while her memories of exact words are fuzzy, “I remember feeling great comfort at the way in which other people – strangers or friends, have been able to talk to me about their own experiences and offer support.”
This sort of situation can affect many people, but the way Ms Barker described the benefits of having people talking, listening and sharing hints at how counselling in west London can help.
A key point is that in such a situation, your mental health will get a boost from having someone to talk to, and a counsellor may be very useful in a situation when someone who you might have had those talks with is no longer in your life.
As mental health charity Mind notes, bereavement can impact people in all manner of ways. Some can handle a situation calmly and well, but others find they are absolutely devastated, especially if a death is an untimely one or happens in traumatic circumstances.
Examples of particularly severe grief can be those arising from the loss of a long-term partner, or parent, suicide, sudden accident, murder or a high-profile event that leads to a lot of media intrusion.
Princes Harry and William have often spoken about how they were hit hard by a combination of three of these factors when their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a road accident in 1997.
The same might be said of those presently mourning the loss of loved ones in the Titan sub that imploded while diving to explore the Titanic. But a myriad other bereavements that don’t grab widespread media attention, things that happen to little-known people, will still have a great impact on those who knew and cared about them.
If you have suffered a bereavement that is impacting your mental health, it is vital to find someone who can talk it through with you and help you through the personal crisis.