#30 The Bereavement Journey: Jane Oundjian on Grief, Faith, and Finding a Way Forward

Jane Oundjian has spent more than 30 years helping people navigate grief. But long before she developed The Bereavement Journey — an award-winning UK-based grief support programme — Jane was just a teenage girl grieving her mother — quietly, and without much support.

In this episode, Jane shares her personal story of grief and healing: from losing her mother as a teen, to later losing her young child, to eventually creating one of the UK’s most trusted bereavement support resources. Along the way, we talk honestly about grief stacking up, what helps and what hurts, how to support children through loss, and why facing pain is the only way to move through it.

This is a gentle, deeply wise conversation — full of practical support for grieving parents, families, friends, and anyone walking through loss.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

1. Why grief doesn’t disappear just because time passes
2. How previous losses often resurface during new grief
3. The power of community and honest conversations
4. How unprocessed grief can show up years later in relationships
5. Why children need truthful, age-appropriate conversations about death
6. Practical ways to support grieving friends and family
7. How faith and big questions can coexist in the grieving process
8. Why being strong isn’t the same as being okay
9. A simple writing practice to help you begin the healing journey

Relevant Links from the Episode:

At A Loss – Helping Bereaved People Find Support and Well Being ataloss.org

The Bereavement Journey thebereavementjourney.org

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Jane’s biography

Jane trained as a counsellor at Westminster Pastoral Foundation in 1993 and went on to train with Cruse Bereavement Care. She worked for them for many years in the North Kensington area, giving one to one bereavement support to clients and helping to run counselling training sessions for the Branch.

Jane has had her own bereavement experiences having lost her single parent mother at the age of 16 and also her first child when he was 14 months old. These experiences led her in 1995 to write and develop the original 5 session version of The Bereavement Journey which she ran for 23 years at Holy Trinity Brompton, before handing over the lead to Yvonne Tulloch in 2018 and the material to AtaLoss.

Jane was awarded an MBE for services to bereaved people in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2020.

Recommended books by Jane:

• A Grace Disguised, Gerald Sittser
• Necessary Losses, Judith Viorst