🛤️Two-Track Model of Bereavement – Overview
Developed by psychologist Simon Rubin (1981), the Two-Track Model of Bereavement suggests that grief affects us along two interrelated paths at the same time. In contrast to the Five Stages of Grief model, it emphasises how daily functioning and ongoing emotional connection can move at different paces, showing that practical life and deep emotions often unfold simultaneously.
Track 1 focuses on daily wellbeing and functioning – how grief shapes things like sleep, concentration, work, relationships, and physical health.
Track 2 focuses on the ongoing emotional relationship with the person who has died – your memories, feelings, connection, and the meaning they continue to hold in your life.
These tracks operate side by side. You might find that you’re coping relatively well in your daily life while your emotions feel raw — or that your emotional connection feels steady but practical life feels difficult. Rubin’s model normalises this mix, showing that healing involves adjusting both externally and internally.
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🙌 How It Helps
This model validates the two sides of grief – managing everyday life and staying connected to the person you love.
It can offer reassurance that there’s no pressure to “get over” the bond, and no shame in finding moments of functioning or even joy.
Rather than aiming for closure, the Two-Track Model highlights that grief is about balance, flexibility, and living with both tracks in your own way.
🤍 May Be Helpful If…
- You’re finding it difficult to juggle emotions and day to day responsibilities.
- You sometimes feel guilty for functioning “well” while still feeling pain.
- You want a way to visualise why coping in grief can feel uneven or unpredictable.
📌 Tips for Using This Model
- Notice which “track” feels most active for you right now – it can change from day to day.
- Be gentle with yourself if the tracks feel uneven – that’s normal.
- Self-check basic needs – sleep, nourishment, connection, rest.
- Reflect on the ways you continue your bond – memories, rituals, shared values.
📖 Further Reading
The Two-track Model of Bereavement: Overview, Retrospect, and Prospect
Remember: this model is simply one way of understanding grief. You are the expert in your own experience, and you never need to fit yourself into any single model.
Take what’s helpful and leave the rest.
Explore more models over on our Grief Models Hub 👉
❓Two-track Model of Grief FAQs
There is no single “best” model of grief, as everyone experiences loss differently. Different frameworks, such as attachment-based models, stage theories, and the Two-Track Model of Grief, offer useful ways of understanding aspects of grief, but none can fully capture every individual experience.
he five-stage model developed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has been criticised for suggesting that grief follows a fixed, linear sequence. Research shows that grief is often non-linear, varies between individuals, and does not necessarily involve all stages in order—or at all.
The main criticism is that the ‘five stages of grief’ present loss as a predictable set of stages, which can oversimplify the grieving process. In reality, grief is highly individual, fluid, and influenced by personal, social, and cultural factors rather than following a universal pattern.
