The aim of this qualitative study was to examine UK childhood bereavement service provision, and explore the reasons why bereaved children and their families had used a service and the benefits they felt they drew from the experience. The study used an ethnographic approach, and five participant observations of service interventions for bereaved children and their families were undertaken to generate data about the nature of this aspect of service provision. The participant observation of each of the five sessions involved taking a different position on the spectrum between participation and observation. Where the participant observer role of the researcher was ambiguous, greater tension in managing the role, as well as the feelings generated by the activity, was experienced. The researcher’s experiences of participating and observing the group interventions illuminated the tensions that exist for service providers in managing their own role in the facilitation of group-based interventions for bereaved children and their parents, and in their emotional support to them. The more participant the researcher is, the more questions arise about how to maintain sufficient distance to register and report new interpretations. In emotionally charged areas of research, such as the exploration of palliative care settings or bereavement interventions, this becomes harder for the researcher to manage. By understanding and using the tensions involved in the participant observation process, valuable insights and data were generated, and the phenomena of service providers managing the professional and personal self whilst facilitating interventions for bereaved children and their parents’ was understood more fully.