It took me quite a while to figure out why Bertie’s death hit me so hard. I couldn’t understand it at first, and that made my grief harder.

Introduction

The way that you respond to the death of a co-worker depends on several factors. Understanding how your grief is affected by both personal and external influences can help you to cope with your loss.

This chapter describes some of the factors that are involved when a co-worker dies. You may have been friends with this person or you may have barely known them. How and where they died, and the way that you learned of their death will also have an impact on you.