About Manchester Grief Coach
Someone to walk alongside you
Steve is an accredited grief coach running a six-week online group course for bereaved adults. By day he's a project manager and company director — not a therapist, and he's never pretended otherwise. A few years ago he lost several friends in quick succession, and watched other friends lose parents and siblings around the same time. What struck him was how unprepared he was: he wanted to be there for people, but didn't have the first idea how to actually talk to someone about a loss like that. That gap is what led him to train as a STILL Method grief coach. He brings the same thing to this course that he brings to running a project — structure, a clear plan for each session, and no vague waffle about "the journey." Just a steady, practical space to work through something hard.
How I trained
I'm trained through The STILL Method's Life After Loss programme, dual-accredited by ACCPH and IPHM. It's a trauma-informed approach that looks at grief through a nervous-system lens — understanding grief and anxiety as connected responses in the body, not just something to "process" in the abstract.
In plain terms: I've had proper, accredited training in how to support a group through loss safely — including knowing where coaching's boundaries are, and when to point someone toward something more clinical.
The STILL Method
The course is built around five phases — not a checklist to work through in order, but a set of tools I draw on depending on what someone needs in the moment:
- Stop — pausing an overwhelming moment before it spirals, using grounding and breathing techniques.
- Talk — a safe space to put grief into words, without judgement or being rushed.
- Imagine — starting to picture a future that still holds space for the person you lost.
- Listen — tuning into where grief actually sits, in the body as well as the mind.
- Learn — finding what this loss has taught you, and carrying it forward on your own terms.
It's a structure, not a script. Some weeks lean on one phase more than another — the framework flexes around the group, not the other way round.
What I believe about grief
Grief isn't a problem to fix or a set of stages to tick off. It's something you carry differently over time, not something that ends on a schedule. My job isn't to rush the group through it or tell anyone how they should feel — it's to hold a steady structure while people find their own way, together.
What I won't do
I won't diagnose anyone, treat a mental health condition, or replace a therapist or GP. If what someone's carrying needs more than this course can offer, I'll say so directly and help them find the right support.