An estimated five percent of all children in Western countries experience parental loss before the end of their teenage years. Death is hard for all of us, but for a child or teenager, the loss of a parent is life-altering.
Living in a culture where death and Grief are unspoken topics, children and teenagers experience loneliness due to the wall of silence from their surroundings. As a parent, you often don't know how to discuss death or Grief with your child because you are grieving.
Closing the gap of loneliness
Studies show that the long term consequences of losing a parent at a young age can persist into adulthood, which is why bereaved children, and teenagers, must get the help they need to deal with the loss in a healthy way.
We can't shield children from the pain and children deserve to be told the truth.
Knowledge is power, and everyone close to a grieving child or teenager can benefit from learning more about grief healing.
You can find many great blogs dedicated to Grief online, and we have selected a list of some of the most informative:
1. Child Mind Institute has an excellent section called Helping Children Cope With Grief.
2. The National Alliance for Grieving Children provides a list of grief support service providers who serve children, teens, and their families. https://childrengrieve.org/find-support
3. My Grief Angels is an interest-based community network and Mobile App that enables people who have lost a loved one to join a mobile village of people grieving. http://www.mygriefangels.org/about.html
4. WYG. What is Your Grief is an easy to navigate website created by mental health professionals who have experienced the death of a parent and have dealt with life after that loss. https://whatsyourgrief.com/helping-a-teenager-deal-with-grief-2/
5. Hello Grief, Teenage online forum: https://teenlineonline.org/yyp/he
6. Still standing magazine is an online magazine for bereaved parents, covering the topic of child loss from infertility to a child's death at any age.://stillstandingmag.com/2016/06/01/welcome-to-still-standing-magazine
7. The Coalition to Support Grieving Students is a unique collaboration of the leading organizations representing a wide range of school professionals.https://grievingstudents.org
8 A well-written and Informative guideline "After a Loved One Dies— How Children Grieve And how parents and other adults can support them" By David J. Schonfeld, MD and Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFT, CHES
9. Better Help - Grief Support. Therapy From Your Couch. This website provides access to licensed, trained, experienced, and accredited psychologists.
10. Grief Speaks. The mission of Grief Speaks is to normalize grief in our 'Get Over It' and 'Move On" society. The vision to give every child, teenager and adult permission to grieve in his or her own way and time, through all different types of losses and transitions.
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Article written by Susan The Survivor
Founder of Soul Care Group Global and Women Fighting Cancer..
Author of The Super Dog Zam Grief Healing books,
Creator of ZAM Academy, a grief healing program for Schools.
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