Losing a parent or close family member —regardless of whether your relationship with them was beautifully close, highly complex, or deeply strained—shakes the literal foundation of your history. When a parent or sibling passes away, it is incredibly common to experience a heavy, blanketed state of grief, a loss of direction, or a feeling of being untethered from your own identity.

Societal pressures on parental and extended family bereavement often expect a linear recovery timeline or pressure you to find "closure." Our Narrative Therapy approach is very different.

The loss of a companion animal or pet is a profound, life-altering event that is frequently minimised by broader society. This lack of public validation can lead to disenfranchised grief—a deeply isolating experience where you feel your intense pain isn't "permitted" to take up space.

At Hive Minds Therapy, we recognise that the bond with a companion animal is often one of the most stable relationships in a person's life, especially for neurodivergent individuals for whom a pet may have been a primary "safe person" and source of sensory comfort.

If you find yourself feeling depressed, exhausted, or other symptoms of grief, we utilise Narrative Therapy to honour this bond, in the same way we would with losing a human family member or friend. Instead of forcing you to "move on" we focus on re-membering the unique role they played in your life, ensuring their loyalty, love, and the comfort they gave you remain an active, supportive narrative in your life's landscape.

Yes, absolutely. The loss of a job, a sudden redundancy, or being forced out of a career path is a profound life disruption that frequently triggers a deep state of disenfranchised grief. In a productivity-driven world, our employment is often deeply enmeshed with our sense of purpose, safety, and identity. When that is stripped away, it is entirely natural to experience a heavy, blanketed state of loss, identity confusion, or an intense anxiety about the future.

You are not your job; we will work to re-member your strengths and chart a path forward that deeply respects your energy levels and values.

Grief is not exclusive to physical death; it is the natural human response to the fracturing of a profound bond. The end of a marriage, a long-term relationship, or a significant friendship is an emotional bereavement. You are navigating the death of a shared future, the loss of daily companionship, and the dismantling of an entire life narrative. Because the other person is still physically present in the world, this can result in a complex, ongoing state of grief where closure feels frustratingly out of reach.

Utilizing Narrative Therapy, we approach the relationship not as something to simply "get over," but as a chapter of your life story to honor and unpack. We focus on externalizing the shame and self-criticism that often accompanies separation. Together, we identify the parts of yourself, your values, and your capacities that you wish to reclaim and carry forward as you author the next chapter of your life's landscape.

Most traditional models view grief as a series of stages to "get through" or a process of "saying goodbye." Narrative Therapy takes the opposite approach. It suggests that while a person’s physical presence has ended, your relationship with them does not have to.

Instead of focusing on "closure," the focus is on "re-membering"—purposefully keeping the person’s influence, values, and love as active members of your life’s "club."

In Narrative Therapy "the person is not the problem; the problem is the problem." When help-seekers externalize grief, it is no longer see as a personal failing or a permanent cloud over their identity.

• A help-seeker might look at Grief as a visiting character: “When Grief sits in the room today, what is it trying to tell you about what you valued most about your loved one?”

• This creates space between you and the pain, making it feel less like you are "drowning" and more like you are navigating a landscape.

This is a specific technique where we look at the "membership" of your life. We identify the stories, lessons, and quirks your loved one left behind.

• The Goal: To move from the pain of the loss to the "legacy of the relationship."

• The Outcome: You begin to see yourself through the eyes of the person you lost, reclaiming the parts of yourself that they cherished and encouraged.

Neurodivergent individuals (including those walking with Autism, ADHD, or AuDHD) often process loss through a unique sensory and cognitive lens. Traditional "talk therapy" for grief can sometimes miss these nuances:

• Delayed or "Spiky" Grief: Grief may not hit immediately. Due to different processing speeds, the full weight of a loss might be felt weeks or months later, or it may arrive in intense, unpredictable "spikes" rather than a steady wave.

• Sensory Overload: The rituals surrounding death (funerals, crowded wakes, constant phone calls) can cause intense sensory overwhelm. Grief can manifest physically as increased sensorial sensitivity, exhaustion, or a reduced ability to manage daily tasks (executive dysfunction).

Logical vs. Emotional Processing: Some neurodivergent people process loss through "special interests" (see my Geek Therapy page) or deep-diving into the logistics of the event as a way to find a sense of order in the chaos. This is not a lack of feeling; it is a way of creating safety.

The Loss of "Safe People": For many ND folks, a loved one was also a "safe person" who helped navigate a confusing neurotypical world. Losing that person often feels like losing a vital support system and a sensory anchor, leading to increased anxiety about the world at large.

Narrative Therapy doesn't demand "correct" emotional expressions. It values your unique way of storytelling.

1. Validates Non-Linear Timelines: It doesn't expect you to "recover" on a neurotypical schedule.

2. Respects Special Interests: If you connect with your loved one through a shared hobby (like gaming, bird watching, or history), Narrative Therapy treats that hobby as a sacred place where the relationship continues to live.

3. Reduces Shame: By externalising the "Executive Dysfunction" or "Sensory Overload" that comes with grief, it helps you view your struggles with compassion rather than self-criticism.