Summary Grief following attachment and loss is explored. Mourning is seen as the path to personal growth after a loss. Death is the conceptual framework used to describe other serious losses which confront patients having physiotherapy. This framework is applied to amputation and spinal cord injury as but two examples of loss frequently encountered in physiotherapy practice. Grief, particularly if it is unresolved, has adverse effects on health. The physiotherapist is well fitted to give counselling of a non-directive nature to help resolve grief following bereavement, amputation, spinal cord injury or any other serious loss.