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The horrific events in Cumbria
Published on JUNE 21, 2010
Our thoughts are with all the families, children and young people grieving for friends and family members. For days we all watched in horror as the account unravelled. The point will come though when it's no longer headline news but grief continues for years...
Families will be offered support as they experience the initial disbelief and numbness, then the pain, confusion, fear and anger - not in tidy stages but as a whirlpool of emotions. Some days they will feel deep in the darkness, other days close to the surface, some days only able to cope by breaking the day into 5 minute slots. As adults struggle to make sense of what's happened and over months and years learn to adapt to the absences of their loved one we must not forget the need for children and young people to have space to acknowledge their emotions, to then express these feeling in safety and then to develop strategies to cope. So many people are affected and individually they may feel alone and different but by coming together in schools, community centres and other groups that sense of isolation can reduced as accounts are shared, again and again, over the next years.
For information about how schools can support bereaved pupils please follow the link.
