SIBBS Newsletter Spring 2023

SIBBS Newsletter, Spring 2023 | tcf.org.uk 4 When you lose your partner, you’re a ‘Widow’. When you lose your parents, you’re an ‘0rphan’. But when you lose a sibling, what do you become… I recently read an article online on The New York Times, around this issue and it really resonated with me as it discusses a topic I have always struggled with, even now 12 years after losing my sister. Since losing Sophia back in 2011, I have always found it incredibly hard to find things that focus entirely on sibling bereavement. When you search grief support online, you are usually shown lots of articles and websites catered towards parents and wives or husbands, very rarely towards siblings. This also shows up in places like card shops, you can usually find themed cards and gift sections to send to those who have lost a husband or wife or a child but never a sibling. I have, and will continue to question why? Why are we not viewed in the same way, how is our grief any different or any less than others? You learn whilst growing up terms and how to describe those who have sadly lost someone, but you’re never taught how to describe someone who’s specifically lost a sibling as a ‘term’ has ever been coined. I sometimes think of myself as ‘Siblingless’ but then this could also be used to describe someone who was born and only child, but not those who have sadly became an only child. I also believe that this contributes to the issues we, as bereaved siblings, sometimes face when trying to talk about our grief. People What do you become?