Talking Point: How do young people deal with the pain of bereavement?

Sudden and tragic events such as the recent shootings in Cumbria can leave young people to cope with unexpected death.

Dealing with death can be incredibly hard for young people. The emotions experienced when someone dies can often be overwhelming. Death under normal circumstances can cause intense feelings of grief, sadness and emptiness. What other emotions might young people feel in the cases of violent or sudden deaths? Would they feel anger? Fear? Guilt? They may find they have questions that can never be answered.

Bereavement is a very sensitive subject and people deal with death and grief in different ways. There is no right way to grieve. Ask the group if they'd like to share any personal experiences of bereavement. How did they feel at the time? How do they feel now? What have they learned? What questions did they want to ask at the time? What support did they get? Talk about the different stages of bereavement. Some people may be tearful all the time and feel unable to cope with everyday things. Others may go into autopilot and won't appear upset. It is important to be open and honest with young people about death. If they are shielded from discussions about death, they may feel alone and isolated and could be unsure how to deal with their feelings.