Bereaved children and adolescents
Children and adolescents experience grief but are likely show it in different ways to adults. Their reactions can vary depending on their stage of development and the type of relationship they had with the one who has died. These links are to services and resources designed specifically to help children and adolescents cope with their grief. There is also information for parents and other supporters to help them understand the loss from the young person’s perspective.
Finding someone to talk to
- Loss and Grief Support: AnglicareSA - Free weekend camps for bereaved children and young people who have lost a parent, sibling, or other significant person. The children’s camp provides grief support to those aged from 6-13 years and the family camp caters for families with children and young people aged 4-17 years, who have lost a close family member.
- National Centre for Childhood Grief - Provides free and unlimited grief counselling for bereaved children aged 3-18 years (online only).
- Eheadspace - Free online and telephone support and counselling to young people 12-25 and their families and friends. Also offers one-on-one chat with a clinician or group chat led by a headspace professional.
- Kids Helpline - A free, confidential 24/7 online and phone counselling service for young people aged 5-25 provided by qualified counsellors.
- Healthy Grieving Program: Feel the Magic - An online grief education and support service for grieving young people (7-17 years) supported by a guardian. Multiple sessions involving connecting with peers are held over a weekend or evening. Sessions are facilitated by a trained mental health expert.
Information for children and adolescents
- When someone you love dies - Information on grief emotions for children aged 5-12 years from Kids Helpline, Australia.
- What is this big thing called grief? - Information for adolescents aged 13-17 from Kids Helpline, Australia.
- Grief and loss - Information, personal stories, and access to discussion forums for grieving adolescents. Provided by ReachOut, Australia.
- Grief (Video, 4:23 minutes) - A video for adolescents from Headspace, Australia.
- 5 things about grief no one really tells you (Video, 6 minutes) - A video targeted at adolescents from Psych2Go.
- The grieving process: Coping with death (Video, 4 minutes) - A short animation on grief for adolescents produced by Watchwellcast.