Welcome to the City and East London Bereavement Service

Specialist, accessible bereavement counselling and support

Thank you for visiting our website. You will find lots of information about our charity, how we can support you and information about other local and national services.

The City and East London Bereavement Service (CELBS) is a small, specialist charity that was founded in 1984 by Dr Colin Murray Parkes OBE, an internationally renowned expert in the field of bereavement and consultant psychiatrist at the Royal London Hospital. Over the years the charity has evolved, however, our values haven’t, and our belief remains that there is a need for a specialist, accessible, counselling service specialising in understanding and supporting people following their bereavement and subsequent grief.

Contact: admin@celbs.org.uk 020 3022 5177

Based within the heart of Tower Hamlets we provide counselling and support to the local community.

Our founder Colin Murray Parkes said, “The pain of grief is just as much part of life as the joy of love: it is perhaps the price we pay for love, the cost of commitment.”

Bereavement and grief

We know grief may be complicated, messy, with a range and intensity of emotions not experienced before. We also know grieving may be different depending on the person who has passed away and your relationship with them.

Grief is a natural process, when someone has passed away. Grief may bring many changes, which are often difficult and painful.

For a variety of reasons, many people find it helpful to talk with one of our counsellors who are specifically trained to support you and help you begin to talk about your loss and the impact this has on you. Just as there is no right or wrong way to grieve, there is no right or wrong time to access counselling. For some people, it may be in 6 months to a year, for others it may be many years after your loss. For some, it may be a bereavement that happened in childhood, and as an adult you would like to access some support.

Emotions and Feelings

You may experience a range and rawness of emotions you have never felt before, or that you weren’t expecting. At times, these may seem overwhelming and unbearable. Grieving is not a smooth process and you can experience different feelings at different times. Some of the feelings you may experience are:

  • shock
  • numbness
  • anger
  • sadness
  • guilt
  • loneliness
  • depression
  • meaninglessness

Often people will share that they feel disconnected or out of control.

Physical changes:

As well as the range of emotions experienced when you are grieving, it is not uncommon to notice physical reactions. Again, there is no right or wrong way nor set amount of time this will last, but you may notice:

  • Sleep is affected, both getting to sleep and/or staying asleep, nightmares or dreaming about the person who has died.
  • A change in your appetite, being more forgetful and finding it hard to concentrate.
  • More aches and pains in your body. You may feel more anxious or panicky.
  • You may not feel like socialising and sometimes find it harder to leave your home.

Further information can be found on our Leaflet: Coping with bereavement

Our counsellors work with individuals and couples who have experienced bereavement(s) at any time in their lives. We are able to provide counselling in English, Sylheti, Bengali, Polish and Greek. Please enquire about other languages.