Looking after yourself

Enhancing knowledge and skills

Many professionals are concerned that they have not had sufficient or appropriate training to offer grieving families the support they need. Professional carers need a clear understanding of the importance of setting boundaries in their caring relationships, both for themselves and for others.

Thankfully the death of a baby or a child in the UK is relatively rare, but this means it is often completely unexpected and can leave the family and staff caring for them shocked and distressed. Staff need to feel confident in their ability to provide the best care they can to the bereaved family. Good training that enables participants to reflect and learn from their own and others experiences, access accurate information and support those around them is vital.

- Caroline Basak, former Midwifery & Women’s Health Adviser to The Royal College of Nursing

Sharing feelings and experiences

It is important that the professionals involved with a bereaved family work as a team and are able to offer each other support and understanding. The need for support is not a sign of professional inadequacy or personal weakness, but rather a sign of maturity, recognising that you need help to do this work well. Most professional carers are very good at caring for others, but far less good at caring for themselves or for each other.

Tea pots need to be refilled if they are to carry on pouring cups of tea. Professionals and volunteers need to be cared for and supported if they are to carry on caring and offering support. Most people know this, but few actually do anything about it. Child Bereavement UK address this crucial aspect of bereavement care through its resources, courses, and helpline.

– David Trickey, Consultant Chartered Clinical Psychologist

All carers can benefit from sharing their own feelings and discussing experiences about particular situations with which they have been involved. They also benefit from hearing and learning about other people’s experiences. If you know that one of your colleagues is involved in some stressful work, try to find the time to listen to them and how they feel afterwards. It can make an enormous difference to have a colleague that cares about you. This is no less important if you are a consultant or a manager.

If you realise that you are not the only person affected by the difficulty of knowing what to say to a grieving family, you feel less alone and more able to care.

– Abla Trebble, Nurse and Health Visitor

Latest

Bereavement by Suicide: Supporting Children, Young People and Families

Bereavement by Suicide: Supporting Children, Young People and Families
Bereavement awareness training for doctors

Doctors face a number of stresses in their work which can affect their mental health. In recognition of the need to promote resilience and wellbeing among doctors, Child Bereavement UK has partnered with the BMA to develop and deliver a series of monthly webinars.
Bereavement awareness training for teachers and education professionals in Greater Manchester

Child Bereavement UK is currently funded to offer free bereavement awareness training webinars for teachers and other education professionals in Greater Manchester.
“We talked a lot about their mother but there were lots of sleepless nights and tears, which had to be dealt with.”

Eamonn talks about parenting his grieving children after their mother died and the importance of good communication.

Supporting bereaved children and young people

Children and young people grieve just as much as adults but they show it in different ways. Find out how you can help them and more about child grieving.
Genevieve
Telling a child that someone has died

It is important to tell a child of any age when someone important in their lives has died, and ideally this is done by someone who is closest to them.
Supporting a bereaved pupil

This comprehensive, free-to-access resource , Supporting a bereaved pupil has been developed by Child Bereavement UK in collaboration with the London Grid for Learning.
What we offer

Child Bereavement UK provides a wide range of training, consultancy and support services to help professionals help bereaved children and families
When your baby dies

When a baby lives only a short time or dies before birth due to miscarriage, stillbirth or a painful decision to end the pregnancy, people may assume that the loss is not important. This is simply not the case.
UK death & bereavement statistics

A parent of children under 18 dies every 22 minutes in the UK; around 23,600 a year. This equates to around 111 children being bereaved of a parent every day.
Claudia Winkleman becomes Patron of Child Bereavement UK

Claudia Winkleman has become a Patron of Child Bereavement UK, a charity which supports families and educates professionals both when a baby or child of any age dies or is dying, and when a child is facing bereavement.
Grieving for a child of any age

The agony of losing a child of any age is unparalleled. There is no age or point in time that makes it any easier. No parent expects to face the death of their child and no grandparent expects to lose their grandchild.
Coronavirus – supporting bereaved children

Frightening events widely reported in the media, such as the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic, can cause children to worry about themselves and others.