Grief (easy read)

Contents

• What is grief?
• How do you feel?
• What can you do?
• The grief path
• Things that help you get better
  

What is grief?

When you lose something you feel sad.

Sometimes when things change for you you feel sad, too - even good changes.

• This is because you can lose something even when there is a good change.
• eg. When you move to a new house you might find new friends but lose some old ones.

What sort of things have you lost that made you feel sad?

ball

fish
                         bird
                             skate board

                             dog 
bike

cat             friend

or

 
                     people

You may have moved house or schools and be feeling pretty lost yourself.

How do you feel?

	Someone or something has gone out of your life.
	Your life will not be the same.
	You feel sad and upset.

What can you do?

Look at the picture below.
	It is like a path that you can walk on until you feel better.
	It shows you feelings that people have when they lose someone.
	If you get stuck on a feeling for a long time you may need help.

The Grief Path

It's not fair	What happened?	I should have	Not true!	I can manage
				I feel sick
				It's true
				I remember
				I'm OK now
				I'm too sad

• Look at the coloured boxes.
• Which words do you think will fit with the feelings on the grief path?
  • Try the drag and drop exercise to see if you are right.

Things that help you get better

Talk
	Tell someone how you feel.
	Remember.
	Think about the good times you had.
	Make a special memory, eg. collect all the photos you have and make a book.
	Draw a picture of all the things you liked.
	Write a story - get someone to help you.
	Plant a special plant to remind you.

Share
	Listen to others talking about the things they remember.
	Talk about what you remember.

Live
	After a while you still think of the past, but not all the time.
	Its time to get on with your life.

If you have lost something or someone, there are some things to do on the next page (PDF - 46kb) which may help you. Print out the page if you want to draw or write on it .

We've collected this information to help you to understand important things about staying healthy and happy. However, if you feel sick or unhappy, it is important to tell your mum or dad, a teacher or another grown-up.