'Sharing grief gives me strength and hope' - widow

A widow says hearing stories from others who have also lost their loved ones gives her "strength and hope" after launching a support group.

Rosie Moss, from West Malling, helped to launch The Widowed Collective, a group which offers peer support for those who have lost a partner.

Mrs Moss, whose husband died in 2018, said she wanted the group to be "something that feels fun" as well as dealing with the grief and sadness of losing a partner.

The 44-year-old said: "People forget that you still have a personality and a sense of humour."

She added: "There's very few upsides of losing your partner, but one of the greatest gifts of widowhood is the people you meet.

"There's an enormous power in hearing those stories."

About three million people in the UK were a widow or surviving civil partner, according to census data from 2021.

Mrs Moss's husband, Ben, died in 2018 aged 42 when he failed to resurface during a scuba dive off the Kent coast, leaving her to raise their three children alone while grieving for her partner.

She said that grief had been a "complex process", and that Christmas could be a "tough and lonely time" for widows and widowers, but that she had also been able to find joy and happiness in the past seven years.

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She helped to create The Widowed Collective alongside three other widows, with the group reaching 1,000 members in its first week.

The group launched in December, beginning with its Widowed at Christmas project offering online support sessions over the festive period.

It aims to give widows and widowers a space to support each other when they are struggling and share their stories of going through grief.

Mrs Moss added: "These stories give me strength and hope.

"You can talk about the fun things, the really sad things, and the things that perhaps that might bring shame if you talk to people who don't understand."

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