Bereavement Toolkit
Uploaded 14/02/2023
This toolkit is for Grief and Loss for Primary school teachers, to help support children and young people affected by loss through death. It is available to purchase through the link attached.
Memory Jar
Uploaded 18/11/2021
Creating a Jar of Memories together is a great way to take some dedicated time to remember the person who has died.
Memories are so important to help children and young people continue the bond between them and the person who has died. Children and young people often worry about forgetting the person who has died, so this is a great way to help them with their grief process.
This also helps when children may have been too young to remember the person who has died. Telling stories and sharing memories is a great way to help them get to know their grieving person. ✨🌙
Keep your memory jar filled with memories and stories of the person who has died in a special place where the whole family can have access to add more or take out a note and remember the person for a while. ✨
Memory Box
Uploaded 18/11/2021
A Memory Box is a special way to remember the person who has died. You can ask your child to decorate it and put their favourite things in it that remind them of their loved one.
Ask your child or young person to add items to the Memory Box that have a special memory with their loved one who has died. You can include things like; Photographs, letters, notes, their favourite music CD, their favourite hoodie or sports jersey or even their favourite perfume they wore.
Keeping these memories alive is so important in the grieving process and the Memory Box will always be a place where your child or young person can open it up and take some time to remember the person who has died.
Gratitude Tree
Uploaded 18/11/2021
The Gratitude Tree Exercise is a great way to empower your child or young person to take some time to list all the things and people they are grateful for.
It's a great reminder for them to remember all the good things that still remain.
Teaching and practicing gratitude will empower kids to live happier lives. Gratitude benefits emotional well-being by increasing positive emotions and enables savoring of experiences.
Journal
Uploaded 18/11/2021
Journalling is a great way for your child or young person to put their thoughts and feelings down on paper.
Keeping a journal is a wonderful way to facilitate the grieving process. Encourage your child or young person to draw or write about their feelings.
Keeping a journal allows children to creatively express themselves.
Plant a Tree/Flower
Uploaded 18/11/2021
help a child or young person better understand & accept the deceased’s transition from a physical presence to existence as feelings/memories in the child’s heart and mind.
Allow the child to participate in the selection, planting and care of the plant, as it can create a deeper connection between this living memorial and your child’s feelings and memories of the deceased.
Standards for Bereaved Children
Uploaded 24/09/2024
Standards for Bereaved Children 2023
Top Ten Children’s Books on Death and Bereavement
Uploaded 20/09/2017
From Michael Rosen’s Sad Book to Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls, Holly Webb, author of A Tiger Tale, shares the most touching books that help us talk and think about loss of a loved one.
Support After a Murder or Violent Death
Uploaded 06/04/2017
Fact sheet from the Dougy Centre which outlines how to support children & teens after a murder or violent death.
Understanding Childhood Bereavement
Uploaded 30/11/2017
National Alliance for Grieving Children – What children should understand about childhood bereavement
Embrace FARM
Uploaded 02/03/2016
Embrace FARM was founded by Brian Rohan and his wife Norma, a farming family from Shanahoe, Co. Laois, in 2014 to provide a bereavement support group for farm families who, like them, have lost a loved one or, indeed, suffered serious injury in a farming accident.
Understanding Children’s Grief
Uploaded 20/04/2016
The Irish Childhood Bereavement Network Fact Sheet.
Supporting Children Before a Death
Uploaded 20/04/2016
The Irish Childhood Bereavement Network Fact Sheet.
Supporting a Child at the Time of Death
Uploaded 20/04/2016
The Irish Childhood Bereavement Network Fact Sheet.
Funerals and Saying Goodbye
Uploaded 20/04/2016
The Irish Childhood Bereavement Network Fact Sheet.
Explaining Cremation to Children
Uploaded 20/04/2016
The Irish Childhood Bereavement Network Fact Sheet.
Going Back to School
Uploaded 20/04/2016
The Irish Childhood Bereavement Network Fact Sheet.
When Does a Child Need Professional Help?
Uploaded 20/04/2016
The Irish Childhood Bereavement Network Fact Sheet.
Helping Bereaved Children to Cope with Mother’s Day
Uploaded 20/04/2016
The Irish Childhood Bereavement Network Fact Sheet.
Teaching Self Compassion
Uploaded 27/11/2015
From the Australian Centre for Grief & Bereavement
Bereavement in the workplace
Uploaded 30/09/2015
From the Australian Centre for Grief & Bereavement
Adolescents and Grief
Uploaded 30/09/2015
From the Australian Centre for Grief & Bereavement
FirstLight
Uploaded 04/09/2015
FirstLight offers support and information and promotes research into the sudden, unexpected, often unexplained death of a child.
Bereavement Practice for Clinicians and Service Providers
Uploaded 01/07/2015
From the Australian Centre for Grief & Bereavement
Programme to Help Those Suffering Prolonged Grief
Uploaded 15/02/2014
Irish Hospice Foundation programme will support people ‘overwhelmed by their grief’.
Up to 7,000 people in Ireland can suffer each year from ‘Complicated Grief’ according to the Irish Hospice Foundation.
This health condition can last for years or even decades after a death.
Bereavement : How Guidance Counsellors Can Support the Grieving Student
Uploaded 28/11/2013
Helping Families After an Emergency
Uploaded 02/10/2013
This booklet has been developed to give you information about a child’s needs and offers ways to help children after an emergency. It is intended to provide suggested ways to nurture children’s emotional healing
You are not alone - HSE Directory of Bereavement Support Services 2013
Uploaded 25/09/2019
This directory lists the individual counsellors and organisations
across the country who provide services to those who are
bereaved. These range from local support groups, self-help
groups, voluntary and community-based groups to larger
organisations with multiple branches.
ICBN Standards for Supporting Bereaved Children and Young People
Uploaded 25/09/2019
In this document, ICBN set out a way forward in the promotion of the child or young person’s
voice in Irish society, in order that their needs may be appropriately recognised and supported
when they are bereaved.
Families and bereavement
Uploaded 11/05/2020
Advice from the Childhood Bereavement Network on how families can support a child during bereavement
The First Steps in Talking to Children about Grief
Uploaded 11/05/2020
Advice and tips from the Childhood Bereavement Network on talking to children about grief
Supporting a Child at the Time of a Death
Uploaded 11/05/2020
A helpful guide from the Childhood Bereavement Network. When a person has died, sensitive communication with children is vital. It can help them to spend some time with the person’s body. Rather than being upsetting for them, with careful preparation it can actually help a child to understand what has happened.
Children's Grief Centre Information Leaflet
Uploaded 16/05/2020
Information leaflet for the Children's Grief Centre
Support Books for Parents of Bereaved Children and Teens
Uploaded 17/12/2024
Support Books for Parents of Bereaved Children and Teens
We’ve compiled the below list of books on childhood bereavement which may be helpful. Most can be bought online from your local book shop, Amazon.co.uk or Book Depositry. It may also be possible to borrow them from your local public library or an academic institute.
Elke Thompson has produced this 36 minute video to support you in explaining the death of a loved one to a young child
Uploaded 30/07/2020
How to talk to young children about the death of loved ones
Explaining death to young Children - Books to support young children following the death of a loved one.
Uploaded 30/07/2020
Is Daddy coming back in a minute? and What happened to Daddy's Body? Two books by Elke and Alex Barber
Attending Funerals, Memorials, and Other Rituals
Uploaded 12/04/2021
When children are not given the opportunity to attend they may feel excluded or rejected. It is important for children and teenagers to feel recognized as family members whose presence or participation is valued at a ceremony, ritual, or celebration of life.
10 ways you can mark anniversaries, birthdays and special days
Uploaded 30/08/2021
10 ways you can mark
anniversaries, birthdays
and special days
Information Booklet
Uploaded 18/11/2016
The Children’s Grief Centre provides a place where children and young people can come to begin the process of healing with the support of friends, families and trained volunteers. The service is located in Westbourne, Ashbourne Avenue, SCR, Limerick.
All services are offered free of charge to children and young people and are available for as long as they need them.
The Importance of Access to Parents after Separation
Uploaded 08/09/2016
Information from DM Burke Solicitors blog.
Families Navigating a Separation
Uploaded 16/02/2014
Separating the Options - Video for young people with parents who are separating
"I'm stuck in the middle"
Uploaded 25/09/2019
In this brochure, the Children's Grief Centre suggest how you can help your child through the process of separation/divorce to make it less difficult for everyone.
Parenting Positively - Helping children to cope with Separation
Uploaded 25/09/2019
This booklet is for parents of teenagers who are separating or divorcing. When parents separate, it is a painful and stressful experience for a family. Every family member needs help and support to cope with the emotional consequences and changes it brings.
Parenting Positively
Uploaded 25/09/2019
Coping with Separation - For Parents of children between 6 and 12. This booklet is one in a series on Parenting Positively. Parenting is a very rewarding job but one which can be difficult at times, especially when parents are faced with challenging situations. The aim of this series is to provide information and guidance to parents of children between the ages of 6 and 12 to help create a positive, loving and supportive relationship between you and your child.
When a relationship ends
Uploaded 06/05/2020
When a relationship ends - Advice for parents from One Family Group
Children can handle it
Uploaded 06/05/2020
Children Can Handle It
How to Talk to Your Child about Their Family Situation
Resource from One Family
Latest News You are here: Home / Parenting / Parenting | 10 Ways to Talk About An Absent Parent (4-8 years) Parenting | 10 Ways to Talk About An Absent Parent (4-8 years)
Uploaded 06/05/2020
Parenting | 10 Ways to Talk About An Absent Parent (4-8 years) Resource from One Family
What Parents Need to Know from Kids about Divorce
Uploaded 08/05/2020
A video - What Parents Need to Know from Kids about Divorce
The impact of parental separation and divorce on the health status of children and ways to improve it
Uploaded 25/05/2020
Research from the Journal of Clinical & Medical Genomics
Where to start if your marriage is breaking down
Uploaded 14/09/2020
Some advice for parents if they are separating and how to move forward.
The Reading Agency’s Reading Well for Young People scheme
Uploaded 04/05/2016
The Reading Well for Young People book-list provides 13 to 18 year-olds with support and advice on common mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety and stress, as well as difficult experiences like bullying and exams.
Nick Luxmoore: Counselling Teenagers on Sex and Sexuality
Uploaded 04/05/2016
Nick Luxmoore reflects upon his new book “Horny and Hormonal” to discuss the significance of sex and sexuality in young people’s education, and how these often awkward subjects can begin to be broached by the adults who support them.
Community Substance Misuse Team – Limerick
Uploaded 04/05/2016
The CSMT provides a free support service to under 18′s and their families. The service can be accessed directly by family members an/or referral from other services.
Donor Policy
Uploaded 22/05/2018
Our pledge is to treat all our donors with respect, honesty and openness. We commit to being accountable and transparent so that donors and prospective donors can have full confidence in CGC.
Privacy Statement
Uploaded 06/07/2020
The Children’s Grief Centre is committed to protecting the privacy of users of this website in compliance with the Data Protection Acts
Complaints & Whistleblowing Procedures
Uploaded 12/10/2020
You should voice your concerns, suspicions or uneasiness as soon as you feel you can – the earlier a concern is expressed, the easier and sooner action can be taken.
Children's Grief Centre's Child Safeguarding Statement
Uploaded 12/10/2020
Children's Grief Centre provides support to school aged children and young people affected by loss through death, separation and divorce. The purpose of this policy is to safeguard children, young people and their families on our premises.
Guidelines for Fundraising
Uploaded 17/12/2024
You can read the guidelines below and contact us by email at fundraising@childrensgriefcentre.ie or on (087) 457 8030 for further information.
Annual Report 2019
Uploaded 30/07/2020
The Children’s Grief Centre are committed to the principles of transparency and accountability in the charity sector. As part of this commitment, published here is our Annual Report 2019 for you to read.
Annual Report 2018
Uploaded 25/09/2019
The Children's Grief Centre's Annual Report 2018
Published Reports and Financial Statements
Uploaded 25/04/2018
The Children’s Grief Centre are committed to the principles of transparency and accountability in the charity sector. As part of this committment, published here is our Annual Report 2017 for you to read.
