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Traumatic bereavement
Traumatic bereavement
What is traumatic bereavement?
What is traumatic bereavement?
Whether a bereavement is defined as traumatic depends on how the child or young person experiences or understands the death of their loved one.
Children and young people can experience traumatic bereavement at any age and any type of death can result in this response. Those who have been traumatically bereaved experience significant distress and difficulty that goes beyond a more usual response to death.
The trauma interferes with the typical grieving process and negatively affects the child or young person's ability to process the loss of their loved one.
Challenges
Challenges
Any bereavement is devastating, but a sudden death comes with additional layers of shock, horror and disbelief.
It can be difficult to grasp the reality of the situation.
Searching for meaning and understanding are often key behaviours displayed by those who have been bereaved.
There can also be regret around lost opportunities, incomplete plans and things people wish they had said but did not have the chance.
There is also no opportunity to say goodbye. This can lead to children, young people and other family members reliving events in their head as they feel unfinished.
When a post mortem is required this can delay funeral arrangements. This can, in turn, add to the sense of it not being real and impact on the way people grieve. This type of death can also involve media attention which can be intrusive and distressing for a family.
Supporting a child or young person through traumatic bereavement at school
Supporting a child or young person through traumatic bereavement at school
The UK Trauma Council have developed free, evidence-based resources to support schools, colleges and practitioners working with traumatically bereaved young people, including this short animation introducing traumatic bereavement in the school environment.
This webpage features an animation from “Childhood Trauma and the Brain” by the UK Trauma Council licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
When a child or young person is present at the scene
When a child or young person is present at the scene
There can be occasions where children or young people are present at the scene and are exposed to a distressing or frightening event. Even when not directly present they can be frightened and disturbed.
You can help children in this situation by:
Reassuring them that feeling anxious, scared or upset for a while is ok and to be expected.
Making them feel safe.
Maintaining routines.
Encouraging them to talk about or draw the event to help them make sense of it.
Accepting and supporting play when children want to act out the event. This is not unusual and can help them process what has happened.
The Child Bereavement UK video highlights some advice for supporting a child or young person following a frightening event.
References
References
Child Bereavement UK - How children & young people may feel and react following a frightening event - https://www.childbereavementuk.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=7e8348b8-b31f-447f-afcd-b2cc03f05fb9
Cruse Bereavement - Support with Traumatic Loss - https://www.cruse.org.uk/get-help/traumatic-bereavement
SeeSaw - Help for families - Supporting bereaved children after a sudden death | SeeSaw
UK Trauma Council - Traumatic Bereavement - What is Traumatic Bereavement? | UKTC (uktraumacouncil.org)
Traumatic bereavement for school & college communities Traumatic bereavement for school & college communities - UKTC (uktraumacouncil.org)
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