Drawing on her wealth of experience, a Dorchester author has written a book to help bereaved parents by telling the stories of the 'remarkable families' she met working as counsellor.

Catherine Seigal lives in the sleepy village of Matinstown, just outside Dorchester but until 2014 she worked at a London hospital as a counsellor for parents whose children had died.

She said: “When I retired from my job I was surprised and concerned to find that I could not forget about the families I had been working with.

“Moving to Dorset I found myself going over the conversations we had shared as I walked by the sea and worked in the garden. This hadn’t happened before when I had ended working with clients; certainly not to the extent it was now preoccupying me.”

She added she began to write down all her thoughts and over time, threads started to emerge.

“I began to recognise that all we had spoken about over all those years had really been about answering a very straightforward question; which was ‘How do I go on living a life that has any meaning now that my child has died?’”

Catherine said the conclusion all parents reached was to find ways of continuing to have a relationship with their child.

“Parents had a considerable investment in continuing to grieve because it kept alive a strong and meaningful relationship with their child,” she said.

"My writing became a book. It tells the parents’ stories and through it I weave my own thoughts about the lived experience of continuing bonds."

With theory woven through it, the book offers those working with bereaved parents insight into the many and varied ways grief is experienced and expressed. 

It offers bereaved parents the opportunity to share others' experiences, to understand a little more about their own feelings and to know they are not alone, providing an original guide to continuing love after death. 

"The book has become my continuing bond with these remarkable families who generously shared with me the stories of their children and how they continue to be part of their present and future," she said.

Catherine's book, 'Bereaved Parents and their Continuing Bonds; Love after Death' was published by Jessica Kingsley and will be launched at a private event tomorrow in Dorchester.

It will be available to purchase from tomorrow.

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