How to support your family and yourself through grief and loss
Grief is a difficult part of the human experience that affects us all in unique and powerful ways. When your family experiences a loss, whether of a family member, friend or perhaps a family pet, each of you may sense and process grief differently. As a parent, it can be hard to juggle supporting children and knowing how to help them understand their grief while trying to honour and navigate your own feelings.
In this episode, we speak with Kaz Amos. She’s a provisional psychologist at the Hummingbird Centre in New South Wales and has spent many years helping people address grief and loss. She talks with us about grief and shares the unique challenges that can arise within the family unit when confronted with loss. Kaz also offers some practical strategies you can use to navigate your way through these hard times.
In this episode, you’ll learn about the following:
- how to create space for your children to express their grief and share their feelings. [04:01]
- language and phrases to avoid when discussing grief with children. [11:58]
- ways you can support your child if their grief is overwhelming them. [16:54]
- how you can process your own grief while still supporting your children and strategies you can use if your grief is overwhelming you. [22:05]
- ways to manage an anniversary of a loss within your family. [36:05]
Further information and resources:
Books
Search for these titles at your local public library, book store or in physical or electronic format online.
My love for you is everywhere
The invisible string
The memory tree
A list of things that will not change
In my heart
Podcasts