Founded by Anna May while she was experiencing grief as a student herself and now drawing on hundreds of conversations with students and staff and over six years of development, SGN addresses the challenges of bereavement in Higher Education.
We believe that managing grief at university does not have to be as overwhelming or lonely as many students find it. We work with the difficulties and emotional pain of bereavement while also making space for connection, creativity, and empowerment.
SGN is now part of Kaplan International, bringing a wealth of expertise in education and supporting the next stage of our journey.
What’s the need?
Around 4% of people lose a parent by the age of sixteen (UK CBN, 2019) and near one third of students experience a loss of some kind during their studies (Spicca et al, 2022). That’s tens of thousands of students, and yet, across university communities, grief remains a largely misunderstood and unspoken topic.
Grief can be highly stressful with emotional, physical, social, and financial impacts. When people are not properly supported, we can see a knock-on effect in education and employment, as well as in people’s relationships, health, and self-esteem, to name just a few examples.
While there are good intentions, we have found a real lack of awareness and gap in the provision of grief support within Higher Education. We want to lead the way for a more compassionate culture around grief and help address the needs of students and staff in some of life’s most challenging moments.
A note from our founder
SGN has grown from my personal experiences of loss, alongside years of research, training, and development, not to mention hundreds of important conversations with other grievers and professionals.
My brother died in an accident when I was ten. I know from this that loss can really shatter someone’s world and lead to a whole host of challenges. But I’ve also seen another side to grief, when my Dad died in my final year at university. While still incredibly painful, this loss acted like a catalyst to self-discovery and connection to the world around me. You can read more about my experiences of loss here.
With gratitude to all involved with the Bereaved Student Network at the University of Leeds, especially Andrew Durham, who helped lay the foundations for what we now do.
– Anna May
Some of the faces behind The Student Grief Network
