GriefZone: Grief & Kids

Grief & Kids

Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of grief. However, they do not always have the support at home to help them with their fears, pain, and stress.

School is often the primary source of support for students who experience loss due to death in the family, divorce, separation, or community violence. Grief Zone provides educators and parents with constructive ideas and resources for helping students deal with grief.

Please visit the links below for more information:

Articles
Books & Brochures
Workshops
Links
Organizations
Training Materials
Video Tapes

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Articles

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After a Tragedy: What Kids Can Do
All About Me (PDF
Guidelines for Parents to Help Their Children Through Grief
Guidelines for Parents to Help Their Children Through Grief- En español
Guidelines for Planning a Children's Funeral
Military Kids: Responding to Their Grief
Our Loved One Died Serving Our Country (PDF)
Reaching Out to Grieving Students (PDF)
Responding to a School Crisis
Talking To Children About Grief
The Grieving Teen
What to do for the children during a time of national terror?
When Someone You Love Can't Come Home (PDF)
When Somebody You Love Has AIDS (PDF)
When Somebody You Love Has Cancer (PDF)
When the Firefighter You Love Has Died (PDF)
When the Police Officer You Love Has Died (PDF)
When Somebody I Love Has Died (PDF)
When Somebody You Love Has Died (PDF)
When Your Pet Dies
Writing a Condolence Note to a Grieving Child or Adolescent

For more articles on the topic of Grief, click here to visit the American Hospice Foundation's Free Articles page.

Books & Brochures

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Grief at School: A Guide for School Personnel
by American Hospice Foundation
Grief at School Resource Manual
by American Hospice Foundation
The Grieving Child: A Parent's Guide
by Helen Fitzgerald
The Grieving Teen: A Guide for Teenagers and Their Friends
by Helen Fitzgerald

For more books on the topic of Grieving Children, click here to view the American Hospice Foundation's list of Recommended Books.

Workshops

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Grief at School Training

Educators in elementary and high schools nationwide are faced with growing numbers of grieving children in an increasingly loss-ridden and violent world. They struggle with the issues of death in the classroom and ways to help their grieving students.

The Grief at School workshop is designed to help teachers and school professionals identify and aid grieving students and introduce age-appropriate lessons about grief in the classroom. After attending this workshop, participants will be more comfortable talking to children about death, and have the tools to develop and maintain bereavement groups for children. Click the link above for an outline of the workshop.

Our Trainer is Helen Fitzgerald - a certified professional death educator, author, and lecturer who pioneered the nation's first "Grief Program" in a Community Mental Health Center. Her books include The Grieving Child: A Parent's Guide, and The Mourning Handbook.

To make arrangements for a training session, or for more information, call or email:

American Hospice Foundation
(202) 223-0204
ahf@americanhospice.org

Links

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Coping with Grief and Loss - Collection of grief resources from the American Association of Retired Persons.
Death-Dying.com - Provides chat/message boards, grief support, articles, newsletters, areas for children and teens, games, and information on legal issues.
Helping Children With Serious Illness And Grief - Web page devoted to helping children and young adults work through grief and serious illness.
Loss and Bereavement Off-Line Resources: For Children - Self help magazine's catalog of organizations and books geared toward children.

Organizations

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American Hospice Foundation - Helpful articles, workshops, publications, and resources relating to grief and other end-of-life issues.
Contra Costa Crisis Center - Online educational resource that offers information on suicide prevention, crisis and grief counseling, disaster programs, and volunteering.
Grief Recovery (online) - Site that invites the bereaved to share with each other online, with chat rooms, message boards, a library, and other resources.
Grief Step Programs - Grief support training and materials for the 911 professional.
M.I.S.S. - Non-profit organization that offers support to families grieving the loss of a child.

Training Materials	Back to Top
Grief Recovery Programs - Certified training recovery workshops by the Grief Recovery Institute.

Video Tapes	Back to Top
Grief Resources Catalog: Tapes - Insightful video tapes dealing with issues of grief and loss. Grief at School Training Guide & Video - A 35-minute video featuring Helen Fitzgerald, training director for the American Hospice Foundation, as she leads a children's grief group and demonstrates how to introduce therapeutic activities in the classroom.