Childrens' Grief Support:
When young ones face death, they are unsure of what will happen to them. They are confused and are missing their loved one. Dawn's Light gives them the chance to ask questions, feel safe, explore their feelings.
What Kids need to know:
- That someone will take care of you
- This death is not your fault, it is not because you were bad in any way
- It is okay for you to know what is happening, to think about and talk about your loved one
- You have the right to grieve and have your own thoughts and feelings
Kids - My Grief Rights
- I have the right to have my own unique feelings about the death
- I have the right to talk about my grief in my own way
- I have the right to show my feelings of grief in my own way
- I have the right to need other people to help me with my grief, especially grown-ups who care about me
- I have the right to get upset about normal, everyday problems
- I have the right to have "griefbursts"
- I have the right to try and figure out why the person I love died
- I have the right to think and talk about my memories of the person who died
- I have the right to move forward and feel my grief and, over time, to heal
Teen Grief Support:
Teens can explore their emotions, have their private space, and freedom to choose how to grieve while finding support from our facilitators.
The Bill of Rights of Grieving Teens
(This Bill of Rights was developed by participating teens at The Dougy Center Portland, Oregon)
A grieving teen has the right…
- To know the truth about the death, the deceased, and the circumstances
- To have questions answered honestly
- To be heard with dignity and respect
- To be silent and not tell you her/his grief emotions and thoughts
- To not agree with your perceptions and conclusions
- To see the person who died and the place of the death
- To grieve any way she/he wants without hurting self or others
- To feel all the feelings and to think all the thoughts of his/her own unique grief
- To not have to follow the "Stages of Grief" as outlined in a high school health book
- To grieve in one's own unique, individual way without censorship
- To be angry at death, at the person who died, at God, at self, and at others
- To have his/her own theological and philosophical beliefs about life and death
- To be involved in the decisions about the rituals related to the death
- To not be taken advantage of in this vulnerable grief condition and circumstances
- To have guilt about how he/she could have intervened to stop the death
