About the Author

Sasha Bates is a psychotherapist, journalist and former documentary filmmaker. Eighteen years in the TV industry saw her write, direct and produce series as varied as Omnibus, Grand Designs, Live and Kicking, and How to Look Good Naked, alongside an ongoing side-line in travel journalism.Her fascination with people - and what creates the myriad dynamics between us all - fuelled her career as a filmmaker, and she discovered a desire to further understand the human mind, emotions and relationships. She left television behind and re-trained as an integrative psychotherapist, gaining an MA, a Diploma in Counselling and an Advanced Diploma in integrative psychotherapy from The Minster Centre in London. Once fully qualified, and after stints working in the NHS and in higher education, she started up in private practice where she gained a reputation as an embodied therapist, an earlier training as a yoga teacher having given her a good understanding of the mind body connection.When her husband, Bill, died unexpectedly at just 56, Sasha turned back to writing to help her navigate the new and unwelcome world into which she had been thrust. She now teaches workshops about grief to therapists, and other grievers, and has set up a commemorative theatrical bursary - The Bill Cashmore Award - in conjunction with the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith.

Reviews

A powerful blend of the personal and the professional.
*Mishal Husain*

This is a useful as well as a moving book. The writing is energetic, down-to-earth and bracingly honest, and many readers will feel consoled and enlightened by Bates's take on her experience. The therapist's reflections are fascinating, but what shines through is how much Bates loved Bill and how much she misses him.
*The Times*

Reading this book, I'm in the hands of someone I would want to be my side for the traumas of life - however small they seem, or big they loom.
*Kirsty Wark*

This is the most startlingly honest book about grief I have ever read. Its immediacy hits you on the first page and takes you on an unforgettable journey. No one has set out so clearly the stages we go through as we try to come to terms with facing the enormity of death.
*Dame Penelope Wilton, DBE*

What a challenge. And what an achievement. Your book is simply amazing and so authentic. Thanks for sharing your heartfelt story and developing acceptance.
*Jane Harris, co-founder of the Good Grief Project*

A really powerful book. I hadn't read a book before that melds the professional, as a psychotherapist, and the personal, as someone that lost their partner. Sasha's book covers the course of one year since she lost her husband Bill, where she describes how she feels and tries to apply what she has learnt as a therapist. She explores the times when that really exposes the shortcomings of grief counselling, and how incapable anything is really at helping you navigate this absence. I've never read anything like that, a mixture of the practical and the emotional.
*Pandora Sykes*