Collaboraide®

Specialist Grief Counselling

To be human is to grieve. With love, comes loss, and with loss, comes grief.

We are a common humanity when it comes to grief.

Yet grief is often misunderstood, by the griever themselves and their community.

This can make grief a lonely place.

You may feel adrift at sea, without a rudder, without an anchor.

You may be holding questions like ‘How can I learn to live with my grief?’, ‘How can I feel less alone?’ and

‘How can I endure the pain of my grief?’

I help people build a supportive relationship with their grief.

Contact Leigh

Welcome,

I'm Dr Leigh Donovan, Consultant in Thanatology and founder of Collaboraide. For over twenty five years I have companioned people through the weightiness of loss and grief, death, dying and bereavement. As a counsellor, innovator, educator, researcher, author and advocate, I have spoken up for grief far beyond the counselling room.

In my care, I offer you a safe harbour. A place to feel less alone. To sit in the turbulence of grief. And when it’s the right time, I work with you to create a navigational chart for the way ahead. We will work together to build confidence in your grief, so you can feel more anchored in the world.

Together we will:

Build an understanding of grief and how it shows up.
Identify what it is you need from yourself and what your grief needs from you.
Develop skills to express your grief experience, and articulate what you need more clearly to people around you. This may be your spouse or intimate partner, other family members, friends, your colleagues.

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Here's how I work with you

Create a safe space

I lead with care and compassion, creating a trusted space for you, your person and your grief. I bring over twenty five years of practice companioning those whose life has been ruptured by the loss of their person. I have learned that grief requires a place to land softly and be held with love, compassion and humility. In this safe place we turn our attention to your person. We hold them central to our conversation. We explore ways for you to build an ongoing relationship with your person and your grief.

Listen deeply

I invite your whole grief experience into the room. All of it. I have seen a lot. I have sat in the rubble and despair of grief. Of unimaginable pain. I will not shy away from your grief. I welcome your pain, tears, confusion, rage. I will sit with you as you wrangle with the thought of simply not wanting to endure the intensity of grief anymore. As you stand on the edge of ‘no more’. There is nothing you need to leave at the door. I welcome all of you.

Co-create a way forward

I help you create a language that anchors you in your grief and sees you gain confidence in navigating your way through the turbulence of grief. I have accumulated hundreds of hours of professional training, reading and research. I have companioned people through a significant life change where grief is palpable, and I've supported families prior to the death of their person, in the immediate aftermath of their loss, through the days, weeks and months ahead where the intensity of grief can feel insurmountable. I have worked alongside the bereaved as they become champions in their grief and find renewed energy and motivation to step into their grief with more authority.

I know what is possible when grief is seen, supported and attended to.

Grief left unattended can lead to greater despair. When we build a supportive relationship with our grief, healing can begin.

‘I can’t sleep, I have memory fog, I feel like my heart is breaking, I don’t trust the world anymore’. Grief can impact sleep, invade our mind, crack open our heart, filter into our relationships and leave us feeling so very vulnerable. And it's different for everyone.

I will help you build confidence in your unique response to grief.

‘I’m struggling to be the person (parent, partner, friend, colleague, employee) I once was'. Grief can bring shame into our lives when we feel we aren’t responding as we or others expect.

Working together we will grow a supportive relationship between you, your grief and those around you.

‘You’ll be over it in a few months’. You and those around you may have an expectation that grief is time limited. It’s not.

Your relationship with your grief needs to be honoured and sustained over time.

…‘If only I had…’ Guilt can creep into our experience of grief and hang around causing much distress if not called to account.

We can find a quieter place for guilt in your life.

‘I should be feeling more…but I don’t’. There are times I meet people who feel guilty for not feeling the intensity of grief they and society expects of them.

Your grief journey is your own, and as we work together we will explore the unique story behind your grief.

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Frequently asked questions

‘I’ve never seen a counsellor. What if I don’t know how to have these conversations?’

Very often this is what I hear from people I meet. Which is why I begin by creating a safe place, where I can listen to your story and work alongside you to help you build confidence in your grief experience. All you need to do is show up. We can do the rest together.

‘What do you ‘do’ in a counselling session?’

I create a space for you to feel safe. I listen deeply to your story. Then I draw on many years of companioning grieving people to guide our way ahead. I can’t fix your grief. But together we can find a place for it to settle into your life.

‘Why do you do this work… isn’t it heartbreaking?’

Early in my vocational life I saw too many people suffering more than they should following the death of their person. Because they, and the world around them struggled to understand their grief. This would often cause more pain. Yes, it can be heartbreaking listening to stories of pain and suffering. But it can also be hopeful. When I witness a person I care for move from head in their hands, to shoulders back and more confident in their grief. This keeps me doing what I do.

What makes your counselling approach different?

I am a Social Worker, who works as a counsellor, among other things. I have worked alongside people and their grief in hospital wards, co-created innovative programs and resources that reduce the isolation of grief, led research which helps us understand more about grief, provided education in a range of community based and national forums rallying for grief to be better understood and cared for. This means the lens I wear is informed by all these contexts. Real life. All of it. I have spoken up for grief far beyond the counselling room.

I can’t afford counselling. Got any ideas?

Counselling costs can be prohibitive to many. Especially if grief has meant you need to step away from work for a while. Often, I meet family members, friends employers and colleagues all wanting to be able to do something to help their friend or colleague who is suffering in the face of grief. Funding counselling, if and when that feels right for the griever, is something practical that can make a difference.

Helping out a friend or colleague who is doing it tough can help others feel helpful. Contact me to discuss ways you can help a friend or colleague who is grieving.

How many counselling sessions will I need?

This depends on you. I meet people who after one conversation walk away with greater knowledge and comfort in their grief. That’s enough for them. Others just need to talk, and find enormous comfort in knowing there is a safe place to take off their mask and speak of their grief on a more regular, longer-term basis. We'll simply begin with a conversation and take it from there.

Can I meet you in person? Can I meet you online?

At present I offer video consultations via Zoom Monday to Friday. I can also offer flexibility to meet after standard working hours. From mid April 2026 I will offer sessions Monday and Tuesday in my rooms in Naremburn, Sydney, and you are welcome to visit me in person these days.

Do you accept Medicare Mental Health Care Plans?

No. I am not a Mental Health Accredited Social Worker. This is a deliberate decision because I don't believe grief is a mental health condition. Grief is a natural and necessary response to loss. I refuse to buy into a system that stigmatises grief and calls it something it’s not.

What if we aren’t the right fit?

The most important part of any counselling relationship is a sense of it ‘feeling right’. I offer a 10 minute complementary conversation where you can meet me, hear my voice, get a feel for who I am. And I will get a feel for you. This is usually enough to get a sense of fit. However, you are in control of our relationship. You have the right to move on at any time.

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