Genetics, Grief and Therapy: Reflections on Ambiguous Loss from the Good Enough Counsellors Podcast

30/07/2026

By Uruj Anjum

A wonderful conversation with Josephine Hughes exploring genetics, grief, and attachment.

Some conversations stay with you long after the recording ends.

I was delighted to join Josephine Hughes on the Good Enough Counsellors podcast to explore anticipatory grief, genetic counselling, and the emotional impact of living with uncertainty.

Drawing on my experience as a former NHS Research Genetic Counsellor and now a BACP-accredited psychotherapist, we discuss how therapists can support clients facing genetic diagnoses, chronic illness, ambiguous loss, family change and uncertain futures.

Why Ambiguous Loss matters

Many clients are grieving something that has not yet happened.

They may be waiting for genetic test results, living with inherited risk, supporting a loved one with a progressive condition, or trying to make sense of an uncertain future.

These experiences often fall outside traditional understandings of grief. Instead, they involve living with unanswered questions, changing identities and losses that are difficult to name.

In this conversation, we explore how therapists can create space for these experiences with curiosity, compassion and clinical confidence.

In this episode

We discuss:

• Anticipatory grief

• Genetic counselling and psychotherapy

• Ambiguous loss

• Huntington's disease and inherited genetic conditions

• Attachment and family relationships

• Supporting clients living with uncertainty

🎧 Listen to the full conversation below.

A reflection for therapists

One of the greatest gifts we can offer our clients is not certainty, but our willingness to remain present when certainty isn't possible.

When we can tolerate uncertainty ourselves, we help our clients discover that they don't have to face it alone.

Interested in exploring ambiguous loss further? I'd love to welcome you to my upcoming live Onlinevents workshop, where we'll look at how therapists can recognise and respond to this often-overlooked form of grief.