BIBLIOTHERAPY for BEREAVED CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE

Bibliotherapy is the use of fictional books (with themes of death, dying or grief central to the story) in order to help bereaved children and young people understand their grief and all of its related feelings and emotions.

Bereaved children and young people DO grieve, and they do so as fully and as intensely as adults; but, they do so in different ways, and through age-related communicastion and through age-related understandings of death, dying and grief.

As they are emotionally immature, bereaved children and young people may struggle with their grief feelings, and how to express them. Consequently, for those supporting and caring for them, the main aim is to help these children and young people find their "Metaphor for Grief" - helping them to find the best medium or vehicle through which they can best understand their grief and start to address it.

Books are dynamic and encourage imagination, with the readers experiencing the story as if they were thewre themselves. As they engage with the story and its lead characters, they can identify with these characters - vicariously sharing in their challenges, dilemmas, struggles, problems and sadness. readers will then reflect on their own situations and, perhaps, adopt some of the charcaters' coping strategies.

This creative, informative, thought-provoking and enjoyable workshop takes participants on a tour of the wide range of best books available for bereaved children and young people. It looks at the aims and ethos of bibliotherapy; how children read; how to assess a book suitable for bibliotherapy; how to use bibliotherapy; how to become a bibliotherapist; and an overview of the varied age-related views of bereaved children and young people on death and grief.

Host or Publisher The Campbell Grief Institute