What is Grief?
What is Grief? - children's grief resource
We are excited to launch, ‘What is Grief?’ a free children’s book created as a part of our Learning Through Loss program.
‘Have you ever lost something or someone important to you? If you have, then you have felt grief.’
‘What is Grief?’ is written by our Manager of Grief and Loss Programs, Jess Sanders, with beautiful illustrations by Stephanie Spartels.
The book is written for children aged 4 and older and goes through forms of grief including the death of a loved one, family separation, the loss of friendships, and the loss of a pet.
‘What is Grief?’ shows all the different ways grief can look and acknowledges that there is no wrong or right way to grieve. The book gives strategies to help children build resilience and navigate their big feelings. Children need permission from adults to grieve in the ways that feel right for them. The book also includes conversation prompters, to help with talking to a child about their grief.
Hard copies of the book can be requested from Jess at jess.sanders@pct.org.au. You can also download a copy from the Learning Through Loss website – www.learningthroughloss.org.au.
The Learning Through Loss program is made possible by the Tasmanian Department of Health, and Healthy Tasmania who co-fund the program. Learning Through Loss’s mission is to create grief-literate communities, and the program does this by offering free resources and grief literacy education to professionals and volunteers who work with children and young people.
Have you ever lost something or someone important to you? If so, you’ve felt grief – a universal experience that affects us all, especially children.
1 in 20 Australian children will experience the death of a parent before their 18th birthday. The remaining 19 will grieve a grandparent, classmate, neighbour, pet, friendship, school, or how their family used to look. Loss is an inescapable part of life for children and young people.
A new book to help children feel comfortable expressing their feelings about grief and loss was launched nationally with events in Hobart and Launceston.
‘What is Grief?’ has been created by Palliative Care Tasmania (PCT) and penned by Jess Sanders, an award-winning, best-selling author, who is also the Manager of Grief and Loss Programs at PCT.
‘What is Grief? aims to normalise grief by exploring common forms, such as the death of a loved one or pet, family separation, or the loss of a friendship. Through engaging storytelling, the book shows that there is no right or wrong way to grieve and there are a range of emotions that can be felt as part of the grieving process.
To coincide with the launch, we visited St Michael’s Collegiate Junior School, where a teacher read ‘What is Grief?’ to their class. The students had meaningful discussions about the book’s themes and shared their own experiences of grief and loss.
Author, Jess Sanders, said the book gives children the language and tools to grieve in a way that is healthy for them.
“Children and young people should feel comfortable experiencing and sharing their feelings of grief and loss as they would any other feeling,” said Ms Sanders.
“Grieving is a part of being human. Children feel loss and grief like anyone else, but sometimes they don’t have a word for it. ‘What is Grief?’ names it up and shows them, and the adults in their lives, that it is ok to feel a range of emotions when grieving the loss of someone or something.”
‘What is Grief?’ is one of the few books dedicated to the spectrum of grief and loss experienced by children.
The book is a resource from PCT’s ‘Learning Through Loss’ program which aims to create grief literate communities through evidence-based resources and education in schools and youth facing organisations across Tasmania.
Ms. Veney Hiller, the CEO of Palliative Care Tasmania said:
“Tasmania is leading the way in grief literacy for our young people, but we know that there is always more work to be done,” Ms Hiller said.
“Since October 2022, Learning Through Loss has trained more than 860 professionals across 90 schools and organisations, equipping them with tools and resources to support young people navigate grief and loss.
“What is Grief? is a beautifully written and illustrated book, helping young people aged 4- 12 years understand grief and open up conversations with adults about their feelings.”
“Through Learning Through Loss and this book, we want to help prevent the development of mental ill health in those affected by grief and loss. We know that from the interest we have received in the book so far, that there is a real need for it in Tasmania and the rest of Australia.”
Learning Through Loss and ‘What is Grief?’ has been funded by the Tasmanian Government and Healthy Tasmania.
A soft cover book of ‘What is Grief?’ is available free to Tasmanians and more than 3,000 copies have been distributed so far.
Hard cover copies of ‘What is Grief?’ are $25 and available here
Every sale of the hard cover book will allow Palliative Care Tasmania to provide 10 soft-cover copies free of charge to Tasmanian communities.