Children and Loss - Caring for yourself and others

Children and Loss - Caring for yourself and others, by Sue McDermott OBE - Redemptorist Publications

This is an excellent pastoral outreach approach booklet, scripted by an author who has more than twenty-five years of experience with Rainbows Bereavement Support Group GB. Written with simplicity, sound sense and deep sensibility, it covers not only bereavement through the death of a loved one, but also other significant losses, such as loss owing to refugee status, loss of trust owing to abuse or neglect, or loss through separation or divorce.

There are sections which deal with "those who care" and "those who suffer" - remembering that in many cases this will be the same person. There are careful explanations of the variety of ways in which children may grieve, depending on their age or background. Nor is the evident need for safeguarding protection issues omitted. No-one can tell another how she or he will grieve, and that grief may come not just post-death, but pre-death, for example, in the case of a loved one dying of a terminal disease.

Children and young people with intellectual disability are dealt with delicately, as is the issue of caring for the carer. The whole "feel" of the booklet is just-right. A variety of Christian prayers are added, as is a sample service of remembrance which may be used profitably annually in a parish or church assembly. There is also a selection of further reading, with a wealth of practical suggestions.

All in all, superb - I recommend you go and get a copy. It may help you with events that happened long ago when you were a child or young person, and were plunged into loss and grief. It certainly rang bells in my own mind and heart when I lost my own dad in an accident at work when I was eleven. It is also a way of thanking all those individuals who give their time and love to the Rainbows groups in our schools.

Children and Loss - Caring for yourself and others, by Sue McDermott OBE. Publisher: Redemptorist Publications, pbk, 65 pages, 2018, £4.95