Grief Education
- After Teens may understand they are feeling grief but what if they are confused by mixed emotions? Explaining what to expect from grief, perhaps through an example of a theory of grief or an explanation of the feelings they many experience (anger, hopelessness, confusion, etc.) may help them understand the grieving process prior to attending a group meeting.
- After understanding the grieving process, teens may want to know how long they are going to experience this. An explanation that it is different for everyone will help teens feel more comfortable with the process, especially if they are coming into group later than many of their peers. Also a statement about how grieving is ongoing will help teens understand the process.
Make sure online activities do not focus on getting stuck in the moment (the focus group argued something like a memorial webpage might not help with the grieving process because the site will always be set in the time the site was made).
The following video, “Living for my Mother” was written by an adolescent girl who lost her mother to breast cancer a little over a year ago. Although it is just a personal memoir to her mother, it addresses many universal themes of grief: the memories of her mother, the pain of the dying process, her frustrations with the things people said to her that was not comforting, the realization and disappointment of her mother not being apart of major upcoming life events, and finally the acceptance of her loss and her appreciate towards life. Shared stories such as this gives teens hope for their own grieving process.
Living for My Mother: A Story of Grieving (This link will open in a new window at youtube.com. You do not have to be a member of You Tube in order to view this video).
The video is welcome to be used on other sites so long as you credit the project.
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