Family support Archives

Two girls sitting on a hammock - manage grief over summer holidays - Photo by SI Janko Ferlic on Unsplash

5 ways to manage grief in the summer holidays

17th July 2023 Advice

We know that the summer holidays can be a difficult time for grieving families, children, and young people. Losing the consistent routine of school or college can affect people and bring up lots of different emotions. Our team of Support Workers share five ways to manage grief and emotions over ...

How can military families remember someone who has died?

1st November 2022 Advice

There are many occasions when children, young people and families will remember someone who has died. Maybe on their birthday, anniversaries, religious festivals and any days that are significant to them. For military families, there are also public days, including Remembrance Day and Armed Forces Day, when you will think ...

Parent using tablet device with child with SEND.

How to tell a child with special educational needs and disabilities that someone has died

29th October 2020 Advice

Telling a child or young person that someone close to them has died is one of the most difficult things you will ever have to do. It’s natural to want to protect them from any pain and when your child has special educational needs or disabilities you may wonder whether ...

Preparing children for the death of a parent

How to prepare children for the death of a parent

29th September 2020 Advice

Preparing children for the death of a parent is an incredibly difficult thing to do. Whether this is from a long-term illness, like cancer or MS, or a more sudden circumstance, such as an accident or stroke, this is a heartbreakingly sad situation for the whole family. There is no right ...

Are my children too young to know about a death

Are my children too young to know how their parent or sibling died?

30th July 2020 Advice

It is a natural instinct to want to shield children from further pain when someone important has died and you may feel that your children are too young to be told how they died, especially if the death was sudden or violent, for example through suicide or homicide. However, from experience ...

How to explain an accidental death to a child or young person

21st July 2020 Advice

Deaths caused by an accident can be difficult to understand because they are so sudden and you may not know how or why it has happened. Telling a child or young person that someone has died is one of the hardest things you will ever have to do and can ...

Explaining homicide to children and young people

16th July 2020 Advice

Telling a child or young person that their important person has died is difficult enough, let alone telling them their loved one has been murdered. It can be tempting to shield them from the details of a violent death; however, police and media involvement means that the details will quickly ...

How to explain suicide to children and young people

12th May 2020 Advice

Telling a child someone they love has died is difficult enough, but explaining that they died by suicide can be even harder. Often adults don’t want to talk about suicide, but we know from our experience that it is better to tell a child or young person the truth in ...

Supporting children and young people after a sudden, violent or traumatic death

11th May 2020 Advice

When someone in your life dies, feelings of grief can be overwhelming. These feelings may be even more difficult to handle if the death is traumatic, sudden or violent. There are many types of traumatic death – it could be through an accident, illness, terrorism, murder, manslaughter or suicide. Is grief after a ...

A calendar page with lots of family entries. Mummy's birthday is circled.

Ways to cope with anniversaries, birthdays and special days when you have been bereaved

6th May 2020 Advice

In the immediate aftermath of the death of someone important you will have many emotions and these can often resurface on special dates such as anniversaries and birthdays. How do you manage those days? Is it ok to remember? Is it ok to avoid remembering on that day? What can ...

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