Supporting Bereaved Children and Young People from the Bridport Community Hub
As the news about Coronavirus worsens and remains very high profile in the news bereavement, grief and death are issues that many children and young people will be experiencing or concerned about, and Bridport Community Hub has been working to help equip adults to feel confident in answering these questions.
During consultations with children and young people living in Bridport and the surrounding area, bereavement and questions about death were regularly raised as a concern for children and young people even before Covid 19 had been heard of. The Bridport community hub (a partnership between local schools, church and Salisbury diocese) has been working to equip adults who work with children and young people in the area to feel confident to answer questions and help them understand that death and loss is a part of life, and to support children who have experienced a bereavement.
Funded by the Aldhelm Mission Fund, Mosaic, the Dorset bereavement charity, have run two online training sessions for school and community group leaders. These focussed on Bereavement in Children and in Adolescence.
Participants were given the opportunity:
- To gain a basic overview of loss, grief and bereavement
- To begin to understand how a child's age and development influences their understanding of death
- To start developing confidence and skills for supporting a bereaved child
- To appreciate the importance of self-awareness in supporting others
- To consider practical resources to use with children
- To recognise the importance of looking after ourselves and identifying ways to self-support
After Easter there will be follow up workshops. For instance, there will be one for school staff to think further about this in the school context, including how to talk about death in the curriculum and how to support and equip other staff in school. Another will be for leaders in community groups (whether that be a toddler group, sports clubs, uniformed organisations or indeed anyone else that works with young people) to think about how this might relate to their context where they might offer specific support and how they can better prepare children generally to feel comfortable to ask questions and talk about death and dying.
After a difficult year, this type of training is incredibly important in order to ensure children are provided with a healthy support network during times of bereavement, and is a fantastic initiative by the Bridport Community Hub.
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