Shelley Gilbert (B.A.Hons, PGDPM, PGDC, MBACP, UKCP Reg) is a Senior accredited member of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists and of the Childhood Bereavement Network. She is married with 4 children and is herself a bereaved child - both her parents died when she was very young.

She is Founder and Director of The Grief Encounter Project - a charity set up in 2003 to create and to improve resources for bereaved children and their families. (www.griefencounter.org.uk) GEP is now one of the leading UK Children’s Bereavement Charities.

Shelley has worked with both children and adults psychotherapeutically in a variety of settings including a Bereavement Counselling Service and Place2Be where she has worked as a counsellor, trained others and initiated schemes with bereaved young people for some 20 years.

She decided it was time to pass on some of her experience to others and wrote a book called “Grief Encounter” which is now a bestseller and critically acclaimed in her specialist field of bereavement. Her innovative theory about the grieving process is now widely adopted in the bereavement world. She is currently undertaking a Doctorate in Professional Studies, researching group work with children and young people.

Grief Encounter is an interactive workbook that aims to encourage communication between adults and children about bereavement. By facing the fear of talking of death and dying, the book may initiate conversations to help young people deal with their loss and to feel less alone in their grief. The book has decidedly filled a gap (Amazon, Waterstones)

She has been invited by many organisations as a Key Note Speaker to talk about her work with bereaved young people or run training and workshops for professionals. She has written several published articles. Shelley has also been lucky enough to have appeared on Television many times , including the BBC, ITV, Channel 5 and Sky News. Grief Encounter has had wide press coverage both in the national and local press, raising the profile of bereaved children and young people.

Shelley has received awards for her counselling initiatives, including AOL Innovation in the Community, Bank of America Excellence award, Helping Hands for exceptional community work, Minerva Business Award and short listed for SHE Magazine Inspirational Woman of the Year.