Illness, Grief & Loss
A time of illness, grief, and/or loss within a family is tremendously impactful on each and every member of that family. While nothing can take that pain away, what we can provide are resources for parents, activities and supports for kids to better understand what’s happening for others and within their own emotional lives, and listen. Below you’ll find some of my favorite resources around these topics. If you or your family are going through a serious illness, grief, and/or loss, please reach out! You are not in this alone.
- Talking To Your Kids About Breast Cancer: A Guide for Parents: A great resource for talking to children about any type of cancer or serious illness
- Helping Children Cope with Loss, Death and Grief
- Tips for Supporting Grieving Children
- Understand and Help the Grieving Child
- Caregivers’ Guide to Talking to Kids When Anticipating a Death
- Grief and Loss Parent Resources: including some of the organizations listed below, along with a book recommendation list for children and their adults
- Local Grief Resources
- Art With Heart: a great grief resource with art activities to help children process feelings of loss and grief, as well as support for caregivers
- The Dougy Center: a Portland-based center for grief and loss with great online resources and supports
- Cancer Pathways: online and in-person supports for loved ones of those battling cancer
- Camp Erin: a local camp (free of charge!) just for kids who have lost a loved one and are going through grief! With counselors on staff, supportive community of their peers, and time in nature, it truly is a transformative and healing experience for those who participate
- Safe Crossings Foundation: a Puget Sound-area foundation committed to support grieving children offering support groups, resources, and more
- The Healing Center: another Puget Sound-area organization offering support groups for those who have lost a loved one
- The Coalition to Support Grieving Students: a powerful resource list for families and community members
- How to Talk to Your Child About Suicide: an article from Parents magazine with guidelines from experts about how to talk to children of various ages when a death by suicide has impacted your child and family