Overcoming Loss: activities and stories to help transform children's grief and loss

Busy members of staff working with children aged between four and eight are always grateful for practical tools that make their lives easier. This resource, which can be photocopied, is designed to help children deal with their feelings of loss in individual or group settings. Whether working with looked-after children who have many losses, or supporting a parent or carer to help their child, this book should be accessible to all professionals.

Written by a Canadian psychologist — you have to accept the spellings from across the pond — it encourages children to name their feelings, and deal with them in positive ways, using a model of cognitive behaviour therapy. Appendices include UK and EU Resources and recommended reading lists, as well as handouts listing common reactions to traumatic stress and what parents can do to help.

It's honestly worth having in the office. You will use it regularly if working with children who have lost their sense of self or even those who have just lost their cat.

Lynne Fordyce, Bereavement, Loss and Trauma Unit, Leeds Primary Care Trust

you can buy this book here