Shelley Gilbert

Dr Shelley Gilbert (MBE, PhD, PGDPM, UKCP Reg, PGD in Counselling and Psychotherapy, Senior Accredited MBACP) is a leading child and young person bereavement counsellor. She founded Grief Encounter in 2004, now a leading UK child bereavement charity. Shelley now sits on the board of trustees and is Lifetime President. Losing both her parents by the age of 9, Shelley has unique first-hand experience of childhood bereavement, and a passion for providing children and young people with a safe space for early intervention following a bereavement. Prior to founding Grief Encounter in 2004, Shelley worked full time as an Advice worker and Bureau Manager at an inner London Citizens Advice Bureau and re-trained as a psychotherapist. She joined the Jewish Bereavement Counselling Service, where she trained others and initiated schemes to expand her area as a specialist bereavement counsellor for children. Shelley was also a clinical therapist volunteer for Place2Be for many years, an organisation that provides emotional and therapeutic support for children in primary schools.