Bereaved mum channels grief into helping others

Shane Game (right) set up the group after the deaths of her two eldest sons

"I don't want people to feel how I feel - so this is why I do the group."

Following the deaths of her two eldest sons, Shane Game started a group to help people to talk about losing their loved ones and how bereavements has affected them.

Since the Shrewsbury Bereavement Group began in 2023, she estimates about 90 people have used it to help navigate their own grief.

Mark Scott has just started coming and said it was helping as he had no-one to talk to about his own loss.

"Everybody knows me as 'oh Mark, he'll be alright, he's from Yorkshire, he knows everything, he'll deal with it' - but not really. Not really," he admitted.

It was on Mother's Day in 2012 when Ms Game's eldest son, 28-year-old Ben, died following complications from a double lung and heart transplant.

Ten years later in 2022, her second son Toby, 31, drowned in the River Severn in Shrewsbury.

"When you're in that dark place, you want to be able to turn to somebody that understands and empathises," she said.

Ms Game said running the group had "given [her] a purpose" and a "legacy for [her] boys".

"It helps other people - and it helps me," she added.

Ms Game said founding the group had created a legacy for her sons Toby (left) and Ben, pictured here in 2012

On what would have been Ben's 40th birthday, Ms Game held the first meeting in April 2023.

The free group is not a counselling service - instead she encourages people who have lost a loved one to talk about their bereavement among people with similar experiences.

"I've put all my energy into the group," she said.

"It's a lifeline because I know if I didn't have the two [younger] boys [and] my two grandkids and the group, I wouldn't be here now.

"Every day I'm battling my heart and my head because I've still got people who need me."

Ms Game said running the group helped her as well as the other members

Once a month the group meets at Castlefields Community Hub in Shrewsbury.

Through cups of tea and conversation, people from across Shropshire can talk about their grief alongside others who have also had a loved one die.

"I lost my wife just before Christmas - I've got a good family behind me but no-one to talk to, really," said Mr Scott, who was attending his first group meeting.

Mark Scott, who lost his wife a few months ago, said the group had let him speak about his grief and "get it out"

He said he would "definitely" come back as it allowed him to to speak about his grief and "get it out".

"I go home and I'm not lonely because I've got lots of friends - but where's my wife? I want to talk to her," he said.

"You need to let people know how you feel - don't just bottle it up."

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