On millennial grief: ‘I didn’t want to be brave. I just wanted my mum back’

Before she died, my mother asked me to find a support group - but there were none for twentysomethings like me. Could I start my own?

I arrived at the pub early and sent out an email: "I'm the girl in the white shirt and red lipstick!" Not long after that, a young woman, nervous and looking a little lost, appeared and asked: "Are you Rachel?" At first, the conversation was a little stilted, but it began to flow as we got on to common ground.

If this sounds like a blind date, it wasn't far off - except we weren't searching for romance, and she wasn't the only person looking for me. She was, in fact, the first of many to arrive that evening, and what had brought us all together was death, not romance. We were bereaved millennials who had lost someone close and discovered how little grief support exists for people our age.