Grief Book

Summary: This book follows the journey of trauma, bereavement and grief following the death of someone special, with the focus on the death of a parent or sibling. We travel through the initial traumatic days and weeks to the longer part of the journey of recovery. We help families find ways through as a new kind of family, as a new kind of community. It is all too easy to face this in isolation and anguish and fall down the slippery slope of acute loneliness and deep sadness. And, miss out on all the good things that life can bring.

This award winning activity book, created by Dr Shelley Gilbert MBE, accompanies you on the journey of grief following the death of someone special. We go through the initial traumatic days and weeks to the longer part of the journey of recovery.

The Grief Book not only offers a space to interactively explore memories, emotions and challenges but also creates a safe ‘container’ to store these thoughts and feelings so children can revisit them as they move forward carrying their loss with them.

This activity book for bereaved children, has many exercises created to:

• Encourage open conversations between adults and children about death and loss
  Help normalise and explore the difficult feelings that many don’t associate with children’s grief such as anger, fear and guilt
• Create an opportunity for children to find out more about their loved one, facilitating the continuing of bonds into the future
• Acknowledge the sometimes overwhelming and confusing feelings, helping children to name emotions and make sense of them
• Allow a scaffolded and gradual approach to processing loss

The Grief Book is designed to create time to talk and think together but also to be set aside at other times, to allow children to get on with their everyday lives.

The activities are primarily aimed at 5-13 year olds, but could be used selectively with younger children, teenagers, and young adults who may also find the book helpful. The focus is on the death of a parent or sibling but with guidance many of the activities are appropriate for processing the loss of grandparents and other significant family and friends.

Much of a bereaved child’s work is not only rebuilding their new identity, but also about realising the relationship with the dead person and vice versa. It’s about filling the large empty space left by the death and finding ways to reconnect. Sadly, as death is such a difficult subject, many opportunities for a child to do this are thwarted or non-existent. This book is packed with ideas and encouragement for families to create their own; we’ve been influenced by Meir’s ideas of how to create memories to produce more happy feelings, increase self-esteem and the sense of being loved by another. Memory Books, Boxes and Forever Journals are a vital part of the journey.

If you are a professional working with bereaved children you can order the Grief Book by contacting Grief Encounter.

If you are a bereaved parent or carer, please contact the grieftalk helpline.