Traumatic bereavement: Supporting children and young people at school or college

About this training

This evidence-based training 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 the 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. It is vital that these children are identified and given appropriate help and support. 

Delivered online, this training will introduce traumatic bereavement, explain how it differs from more typical grief, and explore practical approaches to support children and young people in education settings who may have experienced a traumatic bereavement.

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 this training

The aim of this training is to train SENCOs, mental health leads and pastoral leads in education settings to recognise and support children and young people who may have experienced traumatic bereavement. The training outcomes are to:

• To understand what traumatic bereavement is and how to recognise children and young people at risk.

• To develop confidence in having difficult conversations with traumatically bereaved children and young people.

• To understand how to develop support structures around those adults' supporting children and young people experiencing traumatic bereavement.

• To understand when and how to refer children and young people struggling with traumatic bereavement to specialist bereavement and NHS mental health services.

• To know how to support your education setting's response to a bereavement.

Who is this training for?

This training is for SENCOs, mental health or pastoral leads and for those who have a role in school or colleges directly supporting children and young people’s mental health. This training is also suitable for early years and foundation stage practitioners, frontline education staff working with children 2-6 years.