Traumatic bereavement: working therapeutically with children and young people

About this training

This evidence-based course has been developed by experts from the UK Trauma Council and is delivered by the Clinical Co-Lead of the Traumatic Bereavement resource portfolio.

The way that a child or young person experiences or understands death - the meaning they make of it - can result in it being experienced as traumatic. The trauma gets in the way of the typical process of grief and blocks the child or young person's ability to process the loss.  This can result in difficulties that can be severe and long-lasting.

Traumatic bereavement may be easily missed or misunderstood, meaning that children’s difficulties are not recognised, even by experienced practitioners. It is vital that these children are identified and given appropriate help and support. 

The global pandemic has resulted in more than 100,000 additional deaths in the UK. Many of these will have been sudden and unexpected. Children and young people may not have been able to visit people who were ill in hospital and may not have had a chance to say goodbye. This, combined with restrictions on normal grieving rituals such as funerals, and less social support, means that there is likely to be many more traumatically bereaved children and young people.

This training is for practitioners and clinicians working therapeutically with bereaved children and young people in a variety of settings. Please see section 1.2 (pages 6-7) of the Traumatic Bereavement Clinical Guide for a list of competencies we suggest those attending the course would meet.

The course will provide an introduction to traumatic bereavement and practical approaches to identification, measurement and formulation-driven support.  It will explore how to apply these approaches to children and young people in a therapeutic setting. The number of delegates is intentionally limited to ensure that there is time and space for discussions and scope to tailor the content to the specific needs of the group.

Please do not hesitate to contact the UK Trauma Council if you have any questions about this training.

Aims of the training

The aim of the course is to train practitioners and clinicians working therapeutically with bereaved children and young people to identify traumatic bereavement and offer formulation-driven therapeutic support. All delegates should be already receiving supervision as part of their professional practice.

The course outcomes are to:

• Understand what traumatic bereavement is and how to identify children and young people at risk.

• Be able to develop a formulation to help understand the specific needs of an individual child or young person experiencing a traumatic bereavement.

• Be able to select and administer appropriate measures and use them to help identifying traumatic bereavement and monitor presenting difficulties.

• Be able to select appropriate therapeutic activities and adapt them to the individual needs of children and young people.

• Judge when difficulties are so severe or complex that they require specialist help and onward referral.

Who is this training for?

This course has been designed specifically for practitioners and clinicians working therapeutically with bereaved children and young people.  All delegates should be already receiving supervision as part of their professional practice.