In this accessible and informative handbook, Tina Rae sensitively guides teachers, support staff, SENCOs and others working with children on the best ways to support children and young people coping with grief and loss following the death of a special loved one.
Advice and strategies are provided on a whole host of difficult issues, including how best to support children:
- Of different ages
- With complicated grief
- When planning a funeral
- Make sense of the grieving process
- Work through the process of remembering
- Return to school following a bereavement
Eighty worksheets provide a range of activities to help bereaved children understand, express and process their grief and to remember and celebrate their special person. The activities are also suitable for helping young people to develop a personal bereavement box and construct a memory book or special book of remembrance. Although the resources can be used flexibly, they are generally best suited to supporting individual students or small groups. All the resources are photocopiable. Information sheets, letter templates, resource suggestions and a directory of useful websites and further reading are also provided.
Why it’s a helpful resource for adolescents or adults coping with bereavement or loss:
- Guides emotional understanding: It helps readers – especially young people – put words and meaning to what can feel overwhelming or confusing after a loss
- Offers practical coping tools: With worksheets and activities, it provides hands-on exercises that encourage reflection, expression and memory-building in a safe, manageable way
- Supports reflection and remembrance: The book includes ideas for constructing personal memory books or bereavement boxes, helping individuals honour and remember their loved one
- Because of its sensitive, structured approach to grief and loss, The Bereavement Book can be especially useful for adolescents learning to navigate their feelings and for adults facilitating or supporting that process
TESTIMONIAL:
by Professor Barry Carpenter CBE, OBE, D.Litt. Professor of Mental Health in Education, Oxford Brookes University:
“How do teachers support and unravel bereavement in children? We have to begin by understanding the impact grief has on how a child learns, and matching our teaching activities accordingly. That is a big ‘ask’, but as ever help is at hand in this latest outstanding resource generated by Dr Tina Rae. Tina not only illuminates the learning pathways of the child in grief, but translates this into a range of purposeful teaching activities. This is an exceptional resource book, that will enable teachers to implement responsive teaching and walk with the child through their journey of grief.”
