The Bereavement Café
Support for All
The Bereavement Café is an award-winning grief awareness and bereavement support organisation helping people, workplaces, schools and communities better understand and respond to grief. Founded through lived experience and built through years of supporting thousands of people, our work combines compassionate support, grief education and real-world understanding to help people feel less alone after loss.
We believe grief needs understanding, not fixing.
Why We Exist
The Bereavement Café was founded after the death of my husband, Steve, in 2018.
Like many people after loss, we quickly realised the world around us was not prepared for the enormity of grief.
Long waiting lists, limited support, outdated ideas around bereavement and a lack of honest conversation often left people feeling isolated, misunderstood and unsure where to turn. Much of the language around grief focused on “moving on”, “stages” or trying to fix emotions that simply needed understanding and hearing.
Jane Dixon
Founder of The Bereavement Café
The reality of grief reaches far beyond sadness alone
It can affect identity, confidence, relationships, concentration, work, parenting, wellbeing and a person’s entire sense of safety and normality.
We know grief does not end after the funeral.
And we know people do not simply “get over it”.
What many people need most is understanding.
A place where they can speak openly without judgement, feel less alone and begin to make sense of life after loss in their own time.
What started as one small café…
What started as one small café has grown into an award-winning organisation supporting people, workplaces, schools and communities through grief awareness, education and compassionate conversation.
Everything we do is built on both lived and learned experience, with one simple aim:
To help people feel heard, understood and less alone in grief.
What Makes Us Different
Our work is built on both lived and learned experience, combining compassionate support with grief awareness, education and practical understanding.
We recognise that grief affects everyone differently and that loss reaches far beyond the person who has died.
There is no right way to grieve and no timeline people should be expected to follow.
Alongside our peer support cafés, we work with workplaces, schools and communities to improve grief awareness, challenge outdated ideas around loss and help people feel more confident supporting others through difficult conversations.
Everything we do is centred around one simple belief:
Grief needs understanding, not fixing.
Changing how we talk about grief
We believe grief awareness matters everywhere.
- In workplaces.
- Schools.
- Families.
- Communities.
Because when people feel heard earlier, we reduce isolation, fear and the long-term impact unsupported grief can have on everyday life.
Through support, education and compassionate conversation, we are helping create safer, more grief-aware communities where people feel heard rather than avoided.
The Bereavement Café Services
The Bereavement Cafés
Creating welcoming spaces for those coping with loss to gather, share their stories, and find comfort in shared experiences.
Grief Awareness Workshops
Designed to help individuals, schools, and businesses understand and better support those navigating the complex journey of grief and loss.
Youth Bereavement Cafés
We provide support to children dealing with grief through our Youth Cafes, located within their learning environments. These weekly group sessions help them understand and express their emotions.
Living with Loss Workshops
Designed to provide guidance and strategies for individuals who are learning to navigate daily life amidst the deep sorrow of losing a loved one.
5 week Group Workshop
Support & Listening Service
A safe space where individuals can openly share their feelings and experiences of loss, and receive empathetic support from others who understand their journey.
One to One Listening
We recognise the healing power of being heard and understood, which is why we provide dedicated one-on-one listening sessions.
Compassionate Peer Support
The Bereavement Café offers a safe, welcoming space where people can talk openly about grief without pressure, judgement or expectation.
We are not a counselling service. Our facilitators and volunteers are trained in grief awareness and bereavement support, alongside bringing their own lived understanding of loss. This helps create real conversations, human connection and a space where people feel heard, understood and less alone.
- Some people attend to talk.
- Others simply come to listen or sit alongside people who understand.
Both are equally welcome here.