Our Story So Far
Founder and Chief Executive of AtaLoss,
Revd Canon Yvonne Tulloch, writes:
“My life went into freefall when my husband died. I went from high functioning to job loss and home loss, with suicidal thoughts over just a few months. The turning point came when I encountered a service specialising in help for young widows, and the informal, community-based bereavement group ‘The Bereavement Journey’. These provided me with important understanding and helped me re-build my life.”
Yvonne has recently been presented with CEO Monthly’s Most Influential CEO 2026 – Bereavement Services award in recognition of her leadership in the sector. Read more about the awards.
Our Journey So Far
From a personal crisis to a national movement, our journey has been one of vision, exponential growth and evidence of impact.
2015 | Visioning
Bereavement charity leaders agreed the need for a dedicated signposting service to connect bereaved people to the range of help available.
2016 | Charity Formed
AtaLoss was founded and became a registered charity. With Trustee Jane Oundjian MBE, we adopted and filmed The Bereavement Journey® for churches to provide community support, while also launching our Listening People project to equip those supporting bereaved children and young people. Read more about Listening People.
2017 | Signposting Service Launched
AtaLoss.org went live, offering the UK’s first bereavement signposting hub. It now connects people to over 2,000 services and resources. See the Gold Standard we aim for.
2020 | Adapting to the Pandemic
When Covid-19 hit, grief touched millions more homes. We fast-tracked an upgraded signposting platform and moved The Bereavement Journey® online, training leaders nationwide to deliver it locally – virtually, then in person. Demand surged.
2022 | National Spotlight
The UK Commission on Bereavement identified a national need for the accessible, non-clinical support that AtaLoss was providing. Combined with the public conversations about grief that followed the death of Queen Elizabeth II, our work was in the spotlight, and we became the trusted ‘go to’ place for media comment on death and bereavement. We now feature regularly in national media – one to two times a week.
Contact us for media enquiries.
2023 | New and Inclusive Programme
We updated The Bereavement Journey® films with increased content to support a wider range of bereavement scenarios - including unresolved grief from previous years. We relaunched it as a licensed programme with full training, safeguarding, counsellor oversight, and a delivery pack to ensure consistent quality nationwide. Read more about The Bereavement Journey®.
2024 | Transformational Growth
A landmark donation funded a step change. We strengthened our infrastructure and grew our team to extend our reach. Both our signposting platform and The Bereavement Journey® programme received UK Care awards, and The Bereavement Journey® spread quickly to 390 locations.
2025 | National Influence
Alongside Maureen Burke MP and other Parliamentarians, we helped form the APPG on Grief Support and the Impact of Death on Society. Songs of Praise featured AtaLoss and our first Bereavement Friendly Church. The Bereavement Journey® extended to 500 locations, alongside the publication of our Independent Evaluation, and AtaLoss became recognised as a leading UK bereavement charity. Read more about our APPG.
2026 | Our 10th Anniversary
We’ve started our 10th anniversary year with some notable achievements
Jan 2026 | CEO Award
Yvonne Tulloch was awarded ‘Most Influential CEO for bereavement support 2026’. Read more about awards.
Feb 2026 | Prison Pilots
We published findings from 7 prison pilots pointing to great potential and UK wide expansion. Read the full report on The Bereavement Journey ® in Prisons: Pilot Findings.
Mar 2026 | National Profile
Our patron, Dame Sarah Mullally, was installed as Archbishop of Canterbury. Read more.
Apr 2026 | Government Endorsement
The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, commended our work as we launched our 10th Anniversary appeal. Read more.
