11/04/2018
November is Children's Grief awareness month 💙
November is Children’s Grief Awareness Month! Read the words below from Vicki Jay, the current CEO of the NAGC National Alliance for Grieving Children and the founding Director of Rays of Hope Children’s Grief Centre.
Grief is no fun! Grief is real! Grief hurts! Grief is a journey! Grief is a part of life! Grief is survivable! Grief affects kids!
That’s right! Kids of all ages experience grief! Loss comes in all forms at all times of life. Following loss is a grief process. November is National Children’s Grief Awareness month. Children grieve. A fact of life. It is our duty to recognize that they experience grief and support them through the grief process.
Children need to be recognized as grievers. Children need permission to grieve. Grieving children need tools of expression to be utilized during the grief journey. Children need unconditional support from others throughout their grief journey.
In honor of National Children’s Grief Awareness month, please recognize that following a loss, children grieve. It may or may not look like adult grief. They may or may not ask for help. They may or may not want help. When you know a child that has experienced a loss, know that they need unconditional support and need to be loved through their journey. Connect those children that have experienced a loss with supportive adults and programs to support them throughout their journey. There is no right or wrong way to grieve, except to grieve alone.
Children and grief are two words that I wish were not in the same sentence, yet I know it is a reality. Please join myself and Rays of Hope as together we continue to support grieving children.
Vicki Jay
CEO, National Alliance for Grieving Children
Former Executive Director of Rays of Hope Children’s Grief Center
