With this compassionate book by respected grief counselor and educator Dr. Alan Wolfelt, readers will find simplified and suitable methods for talking to children and teenagers about sensitive topics with an emphasis on the subject of death. Honest but child-appropriate language is advocated, and various wording and levels of explanation are suggested for different ages when discussing topics such as death in general, suicide, homicide, accidental death, the death of a child, terminal illness, pet death, funerals, and cremation. An ideal book for parents, caregivers, and counselors looking for an easy resource when talking to youths about death, this book can be used for any setting, religious or otherwise.

Based on Dr. Wolfelt's unique and highly regarded philosophy of "companioning" versus treating mourners, this self-care guide for professional and lay grief caregivers emphasizes the importance of taking good care of oneself as a precursor to taking good care of others. Bereavement care is draining work, and remaining empathetic to the painful struggles of mourners, death, and dying, day in and day out, makes caregivers highly susceptible to burnout. This book demonstrates how caring for oneself first allows one to be a more effective caregiver to others. Through the advice, suggestions, and practices directed specifically to caregiving situations and needs, caregivers will learn not to lose sight of caring for themselves as they care for others.

Intended for nurses, doctors, midwives, social workers, chaplains, and hospital support staff, this guide gives caring and practical advice for helping families grieve properly after losing a child at birth. As the special needs of families experiencing perinatal loss are intense and require more than just the bereavement standards in most hospitals, this handbook offers tips and suggestions for opening up communication between caregivers and families, creating a compassionate bedside environment, and helping with mourning rituals. Encouraging continual grief support, these specific companioning strategies can help ease the pain of this most sensitive situation.

Explaining how multitudes of North Americans are carrying the pain of all types of loss -- not just the deaths of loved ones but also the loss of a spouse through divorce, children who leave home, and the decline of health as they age or get sick -- this balanced resource empowers mourners and grief counsellors to turn grief into an experience to be learned from. Defining the varieties of heartache and its consequences, this effective guide explores how to inventory, understand, embrace, and reconcile one's accumulated sorrow through a five-phase "catch-up" mourning process. Readers will learn to use a spiritual and holistic approach to examine and integrate the ignored loss from their pasts, so that they can go on to live fuller, more balanced lives.

Affirming a pet owner's struggle with grief when his or her pet dies, this book helps mourners understand why their feelings are so strong and helps them overcome the loss. Included are practical suggestions for mourning and ideas for remembering and memorializing one's pet. Among the issues covered are understanding the many emotions experienced after the death of a pet; understanding why grief for pets is unique; pet funerals and burial or cremation; celebrating and remembering the life of one's pet; coping with feelings about euthanasia; helping children understand the death of their pet; and things to keep in mind before getting another pet.

Since its debut thirty years ago, this favorite by one of the world’s most beloved grief counselors has found a place in the homes and hearts of hundreds of thousands of mourners across the globe. Filled with compassion and hope, Understanding Your Grief helps you understand and befriend your painful, complex thoughts and feelings after the death of someone loved. Befriending grief may sound counterintuitive, but actually, your grief is your love for the person who died in a different form, and like that love, it’s also natural and necessary. Perhaps above all, Understanding Your Grief is practical. It’s built on Dr. Wolfelt’s Ten Touchstones, which are basic principles to learn and actions to take to help yourself engage with your grief and create momentum toward healing. This second edition maintains the content of the first edition but builds on it by adding concise wisdom on new topics such as the myth of closure, complicated and traumatic grief, grief overload, unmourned grief, loneliness, the power of ritual, and more. Excellent as an empathetic handbook for anyone in mourning as well as a text for support groups, Understanding Your Grief pairs with a guided journal.

Partly a counselling model and partly an explanation of true empathy, this handbook explores the ways companionship eases grief. For caretakers who work with grieving people or for friends and family just hoping to stay close, 11 tenets are outlined for mourner-led care. These simple rules call for understanding another person's pain, listening with the heart rather than the head, not filling up every minute with words, respecting confusion and disorder, and relying on curiosity rather than expertise.

With ample space to unburden the heart and the soul, this companion workbook helps grievers explore the 10 essential touchstones for finding hope and healing. The exercises throughout the journal recall the content of the book and ask corresponding questions about the survivor's unique grief journey.

With compassionate insight, this handbook helps those in mourning through what can be the hardest time of year--the holiday season. Mourners will better understand their complex emotions after reading about such topics as honoring thoughts and feelings, creating new traditions, finding ways to de-stress, and incorporating healing rituals into the holiday season. This book's practical wisdom also covers issues such as decision-making during the holidays and coping with the blending of mourning and celebration. All of the answers and advice in this guide are provided in the popular 100 ideas format that features one idea per page, allowing readers to fully absorb each suggestion.

Helping widows and widowers to learn how to cope with the grief of losing their helpmate, their lover, and perhaps their financial provider, this guide shows them how to find continued meaning in life when doing so seems difficult. Bereaved spouses will find advice on when and how to dispose of their mate's belongings, dealing with their children, and redefining their role with friends and family. Suggestions are provided for elderly mourners, young widows and widowers, unmarried lovers, and same-sex partners. The information and comfort offered apply to individuals whose spouse died recently or long ago.

Based on the belief that children mourn in their own unique ways and need love and support of the adults who care for them, this book describes the grief experience of Sarah, an eight year old whose father was killed in a car accident, and offers compassionate, practical counselling for adults who want to help grieving children. Covered are common concerns such as normal behaviours in grieving children, helping children with funerals, grieving children at school, 'misbehaviour' in the grieving child, and helping children heal. Within each chapter, Sarah's story is followed by a counsellor's perspective that offers practical do's and don'ts.

Renowned author and educator Alan Wolfelt redefines the role of the grief counselor in this guide for caregivers. His new model for "companioning" the bereaved gives a viable alternative to the limitations of the medical establishment, encouraging counselors and other caregivers to aspire to a more compassionate philosophy. This approach argues that grief need no longer be defined, diagnosed, and treated as an illness but rather should be an acknowledgement of an event that forever changes a person's worldview. Through careful listening and observation, the caregiver learns to support mourners and help them help themselves heal.

A compassionate resource for friends, parents, relatives, teachers, volunteers, and caregivers, this series offers suggestions to help the grieving cope with the loss of a loved one. Often people do not know what to say, or what not to say, to someone they know who is mourning; this series teaches that the most important thing a person can do is listen, have compassion, be there for support, and do something helpful. This book provides the fundamental principles of companioning a friend, from committing to contact the friend regularly to being mindful of the anniversary of the death. Addressed here is what to expect from different ages of grieving young people, and how to provide safe outlets for children and teens to express emotion. Included in each book are tested, sensitive ideas for 'carpe diem' actions that people can take right this minute -- while still remaining supportive and honouring the mourner's loss.

Beloved grief educator Dr. Alan Wolfelt compassionately explores the common feelings of shock, anger, guilt, and sadness that accompany a stillborn child, offering suggestions for expressing feelings, remembering the child, and healing as a family. Ideas to help each unique person—mother, father, grandparent, sibling, friend—are included, as are thoughts from families who experienced a stillbirth. This new addition to Dr. Wolfelt’s popular series is a healing companion to families when they need it most.

An in-depth guide to the counseling process and establishing a trusting relationship with clients—from a bestselling author and grieving expert. Helping people in grief means being an empathetic companion—someone who allows grievers to be experts of their own experiences, who bears witness without judging, who gently encourages the expression of thoughts and feelings. But even if you approach the work with this understanding, how you "are" when you spend time with the griever also has a tremendous influence on your capacity to help. How do you develop a relationship with the griever? How do you show empathy, respect, warmth, and genuineness? Could you improve your listening, paraphrasing, clarifying, perception checking, informing, and other essential helping skills? Whether you are a professional counselor or a lay helper, whether you have years of experience or are new to the work, this guide, based on by Dr. Wolfelt's companioning philosophy, will help you be the most effective grief companion you can be.

Based on Alan Wolfelt's six needs of mourning and written to pair with "Companioning the Grieving Child", this thorough guide provides hundreds of hands-on activities tailored for grieving children in three age groups: preschool, elementary, and teens. Through the use of readings, games, discussion questions, and arts and crafts, caregivers can help grieving young people acknowledge the reality of the death, embrace the pain of the loss, remember the person who died, develop a new self-identity, search for meaning, and accept support. Sample activities include grief sock puppets, expression bead bracelets, the nurturing game, and writing an autobiographical poem. Activities are presented in an easy-to-follow format, and each has a goal, an objective, a sequential description of the activity, and a list of needed materials.

It's normal to experience anxiety in grief. While it's not pleasant to feel anxious, it's natural because loss shakes our sense of security in the present and often raises worries about the future. Anxiety is a form of fear. Of course we feel afraid when someone important to us dies. How will we survive without them? What will our lives be like? What if something happens to others we care about? What's more, the pain of grief compounds anxiety. When we're hurting, we naturally feel anxious. We want the pain to stop. But the pain of grief typically takes many months and even years to begin to diminish. This book by one of the world's most beloved grief counselors will help you understand your anxiety and fears after a significant loss. They are normal, and they serve a purpose. But learning to soothe your fears is also essential. You don't need to live in continuous anxiety, and you shouldn't because it's bad for your health. You'll learn ways to comfort and distract yourself whenever you need to. Finally, you'll discover that expressing your fears is key to taming them.

After a significant loss, it’s common to feel like we’re going crazy. The sudden absence of someone we love is not only devastating, it’s disorienting. They were here one moment, and now they’re…gone? Forever? How can that be? The first year or two of grief is often unbelievably painful and confusing. We’re in shock, often for weeks or months. Time seems out of whack. We feel powerless, helpless, and ineffective. We can’t think straight; we can’t get anything done. Our moods swing wildly, and we say and do crazy things. We cry, and we cling to objects that belonged to the person who died. We have bizarre dreams. We think we hear, see, or experience communications from the person who died. We wonder if we can (or should) go on. And through it all, our minds and hearts return over and over again to the impossible reality that can never again talk to or touch a person who lived and breathed and gave our lives so much meaning. There is nothing more challenging than the early months and years of a major life loss. But this compassionate book, by one of the world’s most beloved grief counselors, will help you endure and thrive.