Grief and Loss
Grief is a natural response. You can experience grief when someone dies, and/or when you experience change (e.g. breaking up with a boyfriend/girlfriend, parents separating, or moving towns). Grief is a normal part of life.
How you feel about what has happened will change over time; some strategies may feel like they work better at different points in time than others.
Express your feelings: Talk to someone you trust. Write a letter, poetry or a journal. Paint, draw or sing. Talk about what you have gained by knowing the person or having the experience you have had. Talk about the good and not so good times.
Take each step at a time: Take each day as it comes. Understand there are things you have little or no control over. Give yourself permission to grieve.
Have a laugh: It is OK to laugh at things you would usually laugh at. Advantages of laughter are that they give you just a little break from the pain and release healthy, healing chemicals into your body.
Ceremonies: funerals, ceremonies or memorials can be important. They are opportunities to share your grief with other people, or help accept the end of a part of your life.
Celebrate your memory: Plant something as a living memorial. Create a memory book or journal with photographs, stories, pictures or poems. Spend time at a place or doing things that you used to do.
Think about: What have you learnt from that person, place or experience? What memories do you have? How have they become part of your life? What skills have you learnt? How might you carry these on? What place might these skills, attributes, stories or knowledge hold in your future?
Get Support: Talk to a friend, family, teacher or a counsellor.