A FORMER Coventry carnival queen who was widowed with two sons aged just 38 is taking her own experience with grief into the workplace amid a rising demand for helping employees with mental wellbeing.
Tracey McAtamney, carnival queen in 1985, established the Surviving Bereavement Foundation in 2019 in memory of her late husband Tony, who suddenly collapsed and died in his hotel room in June 2004 while on a golfing holiday in Spain.
Today marked national grief awareness day.
She has launched a new Let’s Talk Bereavement series of presentations to help people who have lost loved ones better deal with their grief in the workplace.
She also runs several bereavement cafes across south Warwickshire and the West Midlands.
Tracey was no stranger to grief, even at an early age, after losing her father in an accident when she was just seven – the same age her youngest son Oliver lost his father.
She said: “Nobody just decides to make their life all about bereavement.
“My life plan changed forever when I got that telephone call in the middle of the night to tell me my husband was dead.
“I can now tell people from my own experience there is always light at the end of what seems like the darkest tunnel.
“The physical pain at that time was indescribable, the constant feeling of sickness, disbelief and, for a time, a struggle to even breathe.
“But this physical pain does ease and you can smile again and enjoy life with the knowledge that you will never forget that special person.
“Creating a companionate culture within the workplace is needed more than ever for mental health support with waiting lists for counselling at an all-time high.”
The Surviving Bereavement Foundation offers legal and financial advice as well as practical help, which Tracey said were not available to her.
The charity also provides bespoke Memory Boxes – hand-delivered by Tracey – which are available for grieving children and young adults.
