A Guide to Bereavement for Parents, Carers and Educators
Recent Armistice events have seen us all exposed to the immense bravery of the Men, Women and animals who gave their lives to save ours. There has also, been much talk of loss.
When talking to young adults about bereavement, we, as the adults who want to make it better for them; are bombarded by books, articles not mention advice from well meaning friends and family.
As someone who has been privileged to work with young adults following or during a bereavement, I’ve learned that far too often, power is taken away from young adults, leaving them confused and angry.
I am by no means an expert on bereavement (except, perhaps through my own life experience) but I do consider myself to be somewhat of an expert in counselling young adults. I’d therefore like to share my experience with you which you may find useful. Please feel free to comment below or contact me for further information.
Talk!!!
The top complaint I get from young adults about their parents or carers is that they don’t talk to them. I get it! We want to protect them from the horror and despair that we are feeling. But know this…it won’t stop them feeling the same way, it won’t protect them from the truth but it WILL make them feel isolated and that they cannot ask questions. Talking may be the last thing you want to do but believe me it is the best gift you can give your young adult.
Cry!!!
Yes! Someone we love has died! We’re allowed to cry! They get their cue from you. If you are afraid to show how you really feel, they will be too. The only difference is, they won’t be able to hold it in like you can, and it may show itself in other ways such as poor behaviour, which may result in punishment, leading to further feeling of isolation. Even if you’re not a crier, make sure they know it’s ok for them to cry in front of you and they won’t be laughed at or told to “man up”. Crying is the bravest and most effective thing we can do in times of stress or sadness.
The Funeral
Another big issue young adults have is that they missed a funeral, especially if they were younger when their loved one died.
“Mum and Dad thought I was too young, so I didn’t go”.
I’d like to remind you why we, as humans of whatever faith have a ceremony when someone dies. Here, I would like to quote someone who IS an expert.
Dr. Alan D. Wolfelt is an author, educator, and grief counsellor with over 30 years of experience working with bereaved families. He has written many best-selling books on grief and loss, including Healing Your Grieving Heart and The Journey Through Grief. Dr. Wolfelt serves as the Director of the Centre for Loss and Life Transition.
He lists the top 6 reasons why humans have ceremonies when people die…
Reality
Gathering together helps us to acknowledge a new reality: a loved one has died. Our first instinct when we lose someone we love is to reach out to others to process our grief and to begin to understand our new reality.
Recall
Sharing memories and recalling the things we love most about the one who has died helps us to honour the person in a special way. It is important to go backward before you go forward.
Support
Inviting other members of the community to a visitation or ceremony helps to activate support for the bereaved family. If no public service is held, friends may keep their distance, thinking that the family wishes to grieve privately. However, a public service invites the warm, loving, and caring support of friends, neighbours, and community members that is so needed at a time of loss.
Expression
A funeral gives outward expression to our inner grief, helping us to mourn a loss and create forward movement in our grief. Mourning is different from grief. Mourning is “the outward expression of grief, grief gone public, or a shared social response to loss.” A meaningful ceremony can help us take our internal grief and make it public through mourning.
Meaning
Searching for meaning after loss is one of the basic needs of a mourner. The funeral ceremony helps to bring together meaningful elements such as music, readings, stories, actions, symbols, and the loving support of others to create the sweet spot of a meaningful funeral experience.
Transcend
The funeral experience is like a rite of passage. We emerge transformed, with a new identity, a new relationship with our lost loved one, and a new relationship with our community as a whole.
So…why should your young adult be denied that?
Answer Questions
As bizarre as they may be, as morbid or graphic as they may be, it’s important to help young adults understand the process of death. A loved one will be here one minute and gone the next as far as young people are concerned. They do not tend to have the same conception of lengthy illness as they are far more accepting than adults.
“Grandad had been ill for a while but then, he was gone”
It might help here for you to understand the workings of the teenage brain. During adolescence, our brains are still growing and learning. Basically, there’s a lot going on in there, even if it seems like your child is a grunting, sleeping blob. This means that young adults tend to see the World from their own perspective, much like children. So, a death could feel like it “happened” to them. They may not have the capacity to worry about your feelings. After all, you’re the adult so you should be looking after them. But they may want to know “what” happened. This could involve questions about how their loved one died so that they can make sense of it all.
Reactive Grief
Linked to my comments above, you need to accept that when the space is made in the brain for grief, it will come and then it will be replaced by something else and will go. To us, it may look like they are fine one minute and blubbering the next. This can often be seen as over dramatic behaviour by adults.
Who has the right?
Young adults sometimes feel that they don’t have as much right to grieve as their parents or other family members. I was once told by a young adult…
“Well it’s Dad’s Dad, so he is the most important. Then there are my Aunties and Uncles and of course Nan as she was his wife. Then there’s Mum because she’s supporting Dad so I’m right at the end of the line really.”
Do we really want our young adults to feel this way? Remind them that grief is a private process and each person’s grief is different but has no more or less importance.
Memories
No matter the age of the young adult, I encourage the creation of a memory box. Memories for detail fade but memories of love never do. Grab an old shoe box and fill it with photos, mementos, silly little things that were shared. Anything that is relevant. Along with this, get a memory journal. Write as many memories in there as you can as many will fade with time but will be cherished when remembered. Also, in this digital age, something tangible is all the more special.
Finally…I’d like to share with you my own thoughts on death. When I was a little girl, I believed that everyone emitted glitter. The glitter was invisible so no one could see it but it was there. Everywhere a person had been and everyone they had been in contact with had a residue of the glitter which they then absorbed. When they, in turn touched anything or anyone, their glitter contained not only themselves but that of others who had deposited their glitter onto them. The glitter, like love, could never be destroyed but could be shared with others for ever.
I hope I’ve given you some good ideas. If you like what you see, please follow me by hitting “follow” or check me out on Facebook or Twitter
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When i was around 2-5 i seen my guarded angle though age 2-5 and when i was 7 we moved into this house that someone my moms family member used to know died in the house we moved in and few nights we stayed i started hearing some fade voices it almost sounded like they was trying to talk to me but it was a female sprite and we had a rocking chair in my bedroom and it sometimes starts to rock i wasn’t scared at all because they seem nice so every night i talked to her even when its a bad day at school i used to talk to her at night before i go back asleep because i wake up and i see this white shadow and i kinda seen her face so i knew she was nice and friendly and so i started to talk to her about my bad days and my good days and how Some sprite’s are not always mean to me why their so mean is because maybe before they died someone did something bad to them and they are taking it on all the people who goes to their house or grave and follows them home and do mean things to them but All they really need is someone to listen to their stories why are they mean? Want happen to them before they died? or like want or who did something to them? You watch ghost stories and ghost hunters and stuff…the sprites are talking to them and they are answering their questions like who killed you? And they say who and i like this post of you’res…..
Thank you for sharing your personal story Courtney I’m sure it will be helpful to lots of people. Whatever or whoever makes us feel confident to talk about our experiences is so valuable. I’m glad you were able to talk to the lady and this worked for you xxx
Yeah and when i found out about her and that my moms family member use to stay their and the lady’s name was Dot and she used to baby sit someone from my moms side and When i started seeing and hearing her i was not scared at all But when i was getting older and getting depression and started hearing and seeing things that told me to kill myself so i mean when i was little i wasn’t scared because my mom kinda knew her and i knew she seemed very nice and friendly but when i started getting depressed i started getting scared of the dark and i am 17 in a half and i am kinda still scared of the dark even tho i take pills for my depression moods and so i dont see or hear anything and i am happy that i dont hear those things again but i would love to go back to that house and talk to her once more and tell her how i am doing and stuff and thank you for following me