To watch a child grieve and not know what to do is a profoundly difficult experience for caregivers.

Yet, there are guidelines for helping children develop a lifelong, healthy response to loss. The Helping Children with Loss program allows for an opportunity to free children from the false sense of “not feeling bad” and to empower them with effective methods of dealing with loss.

There are many life experiences that can produce feelings of grief in a child including,

• death

• caregiver divorce or separation

• moving

• pet loss

• a change in schools

• loss of an important item

• the loss of a peer or a peer group

• romantic break-up

• academic challenges

• loss of trust, safety, or control,

• loss of faith, and

• living through a global pandemic

These, along with numerous other losses, may result in many normal reactions within a child which may include,

• emotional and physical exhaustion

• loss of energy and motivation

• reduced concentration

• numbness

• isolation

• changes in eating and sleeping

• academic difficulties

• a roller coaster of emotional energy, and

• irritability or aggression

Sadly, many caregivers feel at a loss when it comes to supporting these reactions.

We tell our children the same messages we were told when we were grieving including, "move on", "keep busy", "be strong", "wait for time to heal" and sometimes, "get over it". While our intentions are good, many of these messages do not reflect the actual feelings of the child. This misinformation can further isolate them in their pain and distract them from their healing.

The wonderful news is, no matter the reason or degree of severity, if a child you care about is grieving, the guidelines examined in this four-week program can make a difference.

Helping Children with Loss is a safe and supportive program that will provide you with the tools that will allow you to explore new ways of recognizing grief within your child and help them to heal their heart after loss. As you progress through the program, you will learn a complete a set of actions that will enable you to assist your child in moving forward in their life with a heart full of hope.

You will take new action within an environment of other caregivers whose children have experienced a loss.

The connections and empathy formed between caregivers who are all striving to provide the best possible opportunities for their children provides powerful feelings of togetherness and support. It is within this environment that you can take the brave steps of examining your current understandings and beliefs about grief so as to make room for new possibilities in your understanding of healing and recovery.

In this program you will have the opportunity to,

• Expand your understanding of what grief is and the various types of loss that can create feelings of grief in children

• Strengthen your knowledge of healthy grieving and coping in children

• Demystify and modify limiting beliefs about a child’s effective recovery from loss

• Learn to help your child communicate their emotional truth regarding their losses

• Share your thoughts and processes in a safe, confidential, and supportive space

• Identify the losses in your child’s life that are emotionally incomplete

• Deepen your awareness of your child’s level of coping and process towards recovery

• Identify the emotional and behavioural habits that are not serving your child’s healing

• Assume a new ability to empower your child through their recovery journey

• Take action to help your child emotionally complete a relationship over which they are grieving

• Develop lifelong strategies to relate to others who are grieving

• Renew your sense of hope in your child’s ability to heal and recover

• Feel heard and seen by others without judgment, criticism, or analysis

 Your program facilitator is Celeste Ferguson, Master of Counselling Clinical Intern and Certified Grief Recovery Specialist® at The Grief and Trauma Healing Centre.

Through her own experiences of loss, Celeste appreciates the overwhelming feeling of being stuck in grief, as well as the loneliness that can accompany the journey through grief. These experiences drive her in her support of those who are processing their own losses, in order to provide an authentic, warm and open space in which to heal.

The program will take place online via Zoom on Saturday afternoons from 1:00pm to 3:00pm through the month of November .

Your investment for participating is,

$195 with registration by October 29, 2021

$295 with registration by November 5, 2021

Registration includes 8 hours of facilitation and all handouts.

Please note, you are required to purchase the book, When Children Grieve by John James and Russell Friedman, prior to the start of the program. Click HERE for the link to purchase it from Amazon.

For registration and payment, please call 780-288-8011 or email info@healmyheart.ca. Full refunds are available up until one week prior to the event.

Whether your child is grieving due to a recent loss or a loss from long ago, it is never too soon or too late to heal their heart.