Help children to deal with bereavement
Bereavement sometimes also referred to as grief, is a term used to describe the sense of loss felt when a loved one dies. This sense of loss may contain a host of emotions, such as sadness, anger, guilt or frustration and anxiety, and the period immediately following the death is often referred to as the mourning period.
Further information about bereavement and how to help children deal with it is available is available in our leaflet ‘Supporting children and young people who have been bereaved in North Lincolnshire’ [PDF, 393Kb] or on the Life Central website. Alternatively, email: firstname.lastname@example.org.
There are lots of books for children and young people which tackle the difficult subjects of death, bereavement and loss. The Little Parachutes website have many listed and we have put together a list of suggested reading for children and young people which include the death of a parent/grand parent/pet etc.
When a loved one dies, there are practical things that need to be done in order to move forward with the funeral arrangements. The Funeral Guide website provides a brief overview of what steps need to be taken and in what order.
Winston’s Wish have some free online courses to help teachers and staff understand how to support grieving children and young people in their school. There are two courses, aimed at both primary and secondary school:
- Childhood bereavement: an introduction
- What you can do to help.
Schools bereavement survey
An amazing 50% of primary settings and 57% of secondary/college settings returned the Bereavement Survey. We discovered that in 2018-2019 about 90 children were known to have been bereaved because of the death of a parent/carer or grandparent.
The main causes of death were life limiting conditions, poor health, old age, suicide, and accidental death.
In 2019-2020 we are raising awareness of bereaved children.
2020 Bereavement Conference
We were pleased to welcome 38 delegates to Normanby Hall in February 2020 for the first Bereavement Conference. Twelve providers shared information about their services and we have agreed to adopt the Winston’s Wish Charter for Bereaved Children.
We are looking forward to developing a Best Practice group in children’s bereavement support in North Lincolnshire in 2020.
The charter for bereaved children and young people. Download the charter.
Jen’s Special Place
Jen’s Special Place is a child bereavement support group based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire. The group ultimately aims to support children in expressing their grief and exploring their feelings in a safe and emphatic environment; enabling them to grow through each others experiences. Parents and carers also benefit from our service; offering group adult counselling and an opportunity to speak with others in similar circumstances.
- Childhood Bereavement Project leaflet [PDF, 393Kb]
- Living Beyond Loss – bereavement support for children
- Childhood Bereavement Network
- Compassionate Friends
- The Funeral Guide website
- Jen’s Special Place
- Kooth – free online mental health and emotional wellbeing support service
- Little Parachutes website
- Winston’s Wish
- Winston’s Wish – Charter