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.

Renowned author and educator Alan Wolfelt redefines the role of the grief counselor in this guide for caregivers to grieving children. Providing a viable alternative to the limitations of the medical establishment’s model for companioning the bereaved, Wolfelt encourages counselors and other caregivers to aspire to a more compassionate philosophy in which the child is the expert of his or her grief—not the counselor or caregiver. The approach outlined in the book argues against treating grief as an illness to be diagnosed and treated but rather for acknowledging it as an event that forever changes a child's worldview. By promoting careful listening and observation, this guide shows caregivers, family members, teachers, and others how to support grieving children and help them grow into healthy adults.

After a significant loss, grief is normal and necessary. But sometimes a mourner's grief becomes naturally heightened, stuck, or made more complex by especially difficult circumstances, such as suicide, homicide, or multiple losses within a short time period. This is called “complicated grief.” In this primer by one of the world's most respected grief educators, Dr. Wolfelt helps caregivers understand the various factors that often contribute to complicated grief. He presents a model for identifying complicated grief symptoms and, through real-life examples, offers guidance for companioning mourners through their challenging grief journeys. This book rounds out Dr. Wolfelt's resources on the companioning philosophy of grief care, making it an essential addition to your professional library.

The Grieving Child in the Classroom integrates the latest research on children’s bereavement and adapts it for use in the classroom. Chapters tackle the neurological, cognitive, emotional, and social effects of childhood grief and demonstrate the ways in which those reactions can manifest in the classroom. By recognizing individual differences in coping styles and considering variables such as developmental stage, nature of the loss, and availability of support, teachers and staff can become better equipped to respond to the bereaved child’s needs. The book incorporates theoretical explanations of grief responses as well as practical suggestions for supporting bereaved children in real-world settings. Whether the loss affects one child or the entire student body, educators can turn to this comprehensive guidebook for ways to support grieving students in their classrooms.

An estimated eight percent of Americans are thought to be suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder at any given time. Many are victims of or witnesses to violence. Others have been neglected of abused. Some have experienced a traumatic accident or natural disaster. Still others have experienced the sudden and perhaps violent death of someone they love. No matter the cause, PTSD results in symptoms of acute stress, including anxiety, persistent thoughts or flashbacks, and a host of other physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and spiritual challenges. In this guide for counselors and caregivers, Dr. Alan Wolfelt reframes PTSD as a form of grief. Helping PTSD sufferers mourn their unacknowledged and “carried” grief over the traumatic events that caused their symptoms is the key to helping them heal. Rather than seeking to quickly treat away symptoms of PTSD, caregivers who follow Dr. Wolfelt's “companioning” philosophy will instead see the natural and necessary PTSD symptoms as indications that the sufferer needs additional support and encouragement to express himself. This holistic new approach acknowledges clinical PTSD treatments as part of the solution while emphasizing that authentic mourning is the primary and most essential healer.

The United States is in the midst of the largest military demobilization in its history. This is leading to an increase in the demand for mental health clinicians who can provide services to hundreds of thousands of military veterans and members of the military. Nearly two million Americans have been deployed to the wars in the Middle East, and thousands of them have been deeply affected, either psychologically, physically, or both. Projections suggest that 300,000 are returning with symptoms of PTSD or major Depression; 320,000 have been exposed to probable Traumatic Brain Injuries; and hundreds of thousands are dealing with psychological effects of physical injuries. Other veterans and members of the military without injuries will seek treatment to help them with the psychological impact of serving in the military, being deployed, or transitioning and reintegrating back into the civilian world. As an example, hundreds of thousands of service members are also leaving the armed forces earlier than they anticipated and will need to quickly adjust to life as civilians after assuming that they would have many more years in the military. Many will be leaving the military because of demobilizations and downsizing due to budget cuts. Current proposed cuts will shrink the military force to the same size it was in 1940. The Pew Center reports that 44% of veterans from the current wars are describing their readjustment to civilian life as "difficult," and many of them are and will be turning to civilian mental health and primary care clinicians for assistance. The Handbook of Psychosocial Interventions for Veterans and Service Members is a "one stop" handbook for non-military clinicians working with service members, veterans, and their families. It brings together experts from the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, veteran service organizations, and academia to create the first comprehensive guidebook for civilian clinicians. In addition to covering psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD, this book also offers information about psychosocial topics that impact military personnel and their loved ones and can become part of treatment (e.g., employment or education options, financial matters, and parenting concerns), providing the most recent and cutting-edge research on the topics. Chapters are concise and practical, delivering the key information necessary to orient clinicians to the special needs of veterans and their families. The Handbook of Psychosocial Interventions for Veterans and Service Members is an essential resource for private practice mental health clinicians and primary care physicians, as well as a useful adjunct for VA and DOD psychologists and staff.

Do you have a grieving child in your life? Are you a caring adult wanting to help? Are you looking for healing activities and the language to use to explain them? Bundled together, KID TALK and OUR STORY give you over 100 creative activities and games, including the memory book, lesson plans, supplementary materials, and additional resources. Used in public schools and hospice settings over 20 years, the curriculum was recently expanded to be faith-based for use in a church setting with the goal of helping a child know God better and trust Him more. The format and content are proven successful. With KID TALK and OUR STORY, you can create interactive sessions with confidence that you are using time-tested exercises that work for the setting and profile of your child or children. Directions explain each activity with kid-friendly words. You will be able to help a child (or children) better understand and process his or her grief, diminish fear of grief itself, and normalize the grieving process. You will have multiple ways for the child to express his or her love for the decedent: memorialize. The pages in Our Story can inspire family conversations and doing griefwork together. The memory book can be a healing tool for the child to return to when his or her grief recycles in adolescence. Two books for the price of one. Purchase of the book entitles you to 25 exclusive downloadable PDFs at www.kidtalkgrief.com. These books are what you need to meet a grieving child's need for comfort, understanding and support.

Many clinicians recognize that denying or ignoring grief issues in children leaves them feeling alone and that acknowledging loss is crucial part of a child’s healthy development. Really dealing with loss in productive ways, however, is sometimes easier said than done. For decades, Life and Loss has been the book clinicians have relied on for a full and nuanced presentation of the many issues with which grieving children grapple as well as an honest exploration of the interrelationship between unresolved grief, educational success, and responsible citizenry. The third edition of Life and Loss brings this exploration firmly into the twenty-first century and makes a convincing case that children’s grief is no longer restricted only to loss-identified children. Children’s grief is now endemic; it is global. Life and Loss is not just the book clinicians need to understand grief in the twenty-first century—it’s the book they need to work with it in constructive ways.

With this resource, the reader learns to recognize and understand different types of childhood losses while avoiding the stifling cliches that block feeling. The reader will also become aware of the myths that hinder the grief process and learn the four psychological tasks for grief. The author explains the technique of grief work, providing tools, ideas and inventories for educators to help kids commemorate loss.

Discusses how children grieve and presents ways of dealing with the grieving child in the schools.