Loss and Grief Work with Children and Young People

Managing change, loss and grief is an inevitable part of children and young peoples' lives as they deal with issues such as separation, divorce, death and other significant loss experiences. This workshop is based on the theory that the better children learn to manage and grow through these changes, the more resilient they become as they face further changes in their adult life.

The success of children or adolescent’s integration and healing of significant losses is based on understanding the implications of loss experiences, knowing loss and grief from a child’s developmental perspective and implementing strategies that help work through age appropriate interventions.

This workshop draws from the “Seasons for Growth” program which is an Australian grief and loss support program for children and young people. The workshop will invite “story telling” as a strategy and emphasise the important role of feeling, thinking, questioning and deciding and doing in order to heal life’s hurts and to bring about change.

Participants have the opportunity to:

• Identify different responses children and young people have to loss
• Describe the skills that develop to assist in managing grief reactions
• Assess normal loss and grief responses
• Discuss children’s concepts of death and how this impacts on the grief process
• Explore practical strategies that assist children and young people to come to terms with their loss so to promote healing and growth

Who should attend?

People who work directly or indirectly with children and young people