Losing a spouse is a major trauma and one of the main reasons for social isolation and loneliness among older people. Surviving spouses often describe their experience as life being turned upside down. Nothing is the same as before. Grief and loneliness are siblings, but there are various coping mechanisms, and it is on these that we need to focus.

On 31st October, Guðrún Ágústsdóttir will be giving a talk for those who have lost a loved one in later life. She was chairperson of the Reykjavík Eldri borgara ráðið (Council of Older People) from 2015–2018 and then an adviser to the Reykjavík Association of Pensioners and the National Association of Pensioners. In that role, she focused on the loneliness of older people, for whom the loss of a spouse is a risk factor. Guðrún lost her partner in January 2021 and has spoken about the experience in interviews. She then wrote the booklet On the death of a spouse which the National Federation of Pensioners published in 2021.
Guðrún leads a support group at the Bereavement Centre for those who lose a spouse in later life.

Registration here

The lecture begins at 18:00