Hello!
I’m Amber Jeffrey, the creator and founder of The Grief Gang.
I’ve been doing this stuff for a long time now - since 2019 in fact. This page will tell you everything you need (or perhaps don’t) to know about me and how Grief Gang came to be.
There’s a lot to unpack to bring you up to speed and I’m never one to keep things brief, so walk with me down memory lane.
My relationship with grief began on the 25th of June 2016.
Unexpectedly and suddenly my mother, Susan, suffered a heart attack that would change the course of mine and my families life forever.
At aged 51 she died leaving my brother and I, aged 19, behind. In a matter of hours, we were thrusted into navigating a world without the person who brought us into it and left to hold this insurmountable grief.
Like many of you may experience in your own grief, I was an anomaly amongst my peer group and friends. With no one to mirror my experience, relate to or pull from as a point of reference - I spiralled into a deep loneliness, isolation and depression as I came to understand later on.
The summer of 2019 saw me at my lowest, I was in crisis with thoughts that were dark and harmful. I knew something had to give, that there had to be others like me out there. Despite how heartbroken I was, I held onto hope that community may just be my answer.
What unfolded next turned out to be the best decision I made for my life.
During a whirlwind and chaotic trip to Morocco in the September of 2019, I found myself researching resources on grief. Scouring the internet and podcast platforms to hopefully find someone or something that was speaking about grief that spoke to my grieving, adolescent heart at the time.
The pickings were slim.
So what did I do? I said sod it! If I can’t find it, then I’ll make it. It was the most impulsive, erratic and maybe illogical decision I made and I ran with it. The Grief Gang was born on a sun bed and for the first time in a long time I felt hopeful.
I returned home, hopped online and bought all the gear with no idea. All I knew I wanted to do at that point was get some stuff of my chest from the past 3 years of living with grief and prayed it reached someone, even just one person it could relate to and I could connect with.
Spoiler alert: I found more than just one, I found thousands.
Through The Grief Gang social media, podcast and credibility throughout the years it has become a notable home for all grievers to return to. No matter who, what or when your loss was. This community is global and it has heart, a big one.
I’ve spoken with hundreds of guests on the podcast - sharing their stories, experiences and wisdom for our growing listenership.
I’ve welcomed thousands of grievers through my physical and metaphorical doors to support and guide them through grief. Whether that’s through 1:1, group circles, workshops and events both online and offline.
I’ve been interviewed by some of the most influential media outlets such as the BBC, Women’s Health, ELLE UK and many more to share my story and those in this community.
I’ve stood on stages, big, scary stages (Like Oxford, Cambridge and Westminster kind of stages, big up!) and spoke passionately about why grief support and care is all of our business.
I’ve done a lot, we’ve done a lot as a community. The Grief Gang isn’t a place where we promise fixes- there isn’t one. But what we do promise is community. True, genuine and honest community that’s got your back. What we, I do, here in GG isn’t rocket science or has a secret formula. We bring it back to basics and allow humans to be humans- in all their messiness and wonderfulness. We honour the sacred time and spaces it takes to sit with our grief - in both it’s sadness and weirdly sometimes, joy.
Through conversation, commitment and community what I have always strived for and continue to in Grief Gang is to showcase that you can live with grief and there is always a way through. And you don’t just have to survive with it, you can still carve out a beautiful life for yourself in honour of your own life and your beloved dead.
I owe everything to Grief Gang. I never could have thought something so tragic in my life could birth something so profound, meaningful and life-changing (in a good way!). Community saved my life and I’m so glad I took a bet on myself all those years ago - it’s been a wild ride.
Big love,
Amber x
