Imagine you and your family have spent 20 years building a home in which you all feel safe and secure, surrounded by your personal belongings and family memories, representing an important part of who you are.

Then, one day, out of the blue, on holiday, you receive a call from the police telling you that this safe haven of yours has been violated, burgled, ransacked and your most personal belongings stolen.

And, this is the second time in 6 months! How would you feel and react?

This is exactly what recently happened to a very good friend of mine and it got me thinking about the parallels between the feelings we go through in a situation like this and the feelings of loss and grief experienced at the time of separation and divorce.

Both events involve the experience of loss (and in some cases of separation, a violation of trust) which I explore in this short series of 5 blogs together with what we can all learn from these experiences, whether we are involved directly or called on to support someone going through these experiences.

The thing about a burglary is that the loss cycle is typically much shorter than the one associated with separation but, none the less, plain to see.

In this blog series I explore the 4 main stages of loss as the full effects kick in.

The stages of;

1.    Shock

2.    Anger

3.    Depression

4.    Acceptance