Children’s Grief Awareness Week this year is taking place between the 17th and 23rd November. The theme is ‘Sharing Stories, Strengthening Hope’ and will aim to create more compassionate communities by sharing bereavement experiences and encouraging people to look for hope in the future.
“Young people who are supported by the Bodie Hodges Foundation often face challenges in their bereavement. These can include strong emotions such as sadness, anger, and anxiety. The young people we support frequently report feeling isolated, lonely, and different from their peers.
Social settings including school can be difficult to navigate.
All our young people experience their grief differently.
Through receiving our early therapeutic bereavement support the children and young people have an opportunity to talk about the death of their sibling. This helps them to explore their grief in a safe environment.
Accessing our services helps to give validation to their feelings and give hope and assurance that they are not alone and that feelings can change as they learn to carry their grief.”
Nicola Tyers, Bereavement Counsellor
This Children’s Grief Awareness Week, we wanted to share some of the ways the siblings we support have chosen to remember their brother or sister or share their how their grief feels to them.
Many highlight hope, showing that despite their grief there are still opportunities for happiness and celebration.
At our last #TogetherProject, our monthly youth group for young people aged 11-16 years living in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland who have been bereaved of a sibling, they worked on creating a comic strip to show others what their grief feels like.
This activity was a great opportunity for them to share their experiences and let others know that they are not alone.
One of the young people we support also wrote a story of their grief, how it felt at the time and how they feel now, 4 years later…
After everything happened I had so many questions and emotions. No one could answer them. I had so many feelings of regret and guilt. I couldn’t understand how everyone acted like nothing happened. I felt like my world had stopped spinning at the time. I didn’t understand that people have different ways of grieving. After everything I had more anxiety.
After the first two years I slowly began to feel like my life was shifting back into a new normal.
It has been four years now, I still have bad days but I also have good days. I have found my people, the people that understand when I have bad days and make my good days feel like a dream.
It will never be easy, it’s just adjusting to the new normal and growing with my grief.
We want to encourage everyone to share a story about bereavement. By sharing our own experiences of bereavement, it helps create compassionate communities and that there is always hope for the future.
If you would like more information, or want to download our own grief awareness resources, follow this link.
To find out more about how we support bereaved siblings, or to make a referral, head to Children & Young People – Bodie Hodges Foundation.
