We are three sisters: Edel, Maeveen & Cathy whose youngest sister Triona died suddenly and unexpectedly in hospital on the 27th February 2017. As we desperately tried to navigate the utter devastation following her death we quickly realised that there is little to no support specifically for adults whose brother or sister has died. In fact we quickly learned that there is more written about coping with the loss of a pet than the loss of a sibling. In grief work siblings are often described as the “forgotten mourners” and Siblings report that they feel their grief is overlooked and not valid. We have created Sibling Grief Club to try to address that anomaly.
Following our sister’s death, we found ourselves in a place that none of us knew, it was cold and unfamiliar and it was frightening. We turned to google for help and found none. We were on our own in trying to figure out this new and lonely world. Professional face to face therapy was not an option for us in the very early days, it was recommended by grief workers that we wait at least 12 months before embarking on any counselling programmes.