Additional Grief Support Resources

FOR ADULTS – Bibliography for Bereaved Families

Beyond Tears- Living After Losing a Child by Ellen Mitchell

Nine mothers share their stories on how to survive in the darkest of hours

Children Die, Too by Joy and Dr. S.M. Johnson

Talks about feelings, dealing with guilt, why questions, facing sadness. Sections on relating to others, your other children, moving on.

Empty Cradle, Broken Heart by Deborah Davis, PhD

Deals with feelings, death decisions, family needs, telling the children, support networks, and your next baby.

For Bereaved Grandparents by Margaret Gerner

Addresses the grief grandparents feel and how they can be there, while grieving, too.

Goodbye My Child by Sara Rich Wheeler and Margaret Pike

Gives what-to-do now list. Helps with funeral planning, practical questions. Covers deaths of all ages of children, men/women’s grief, healing dealing with family, phases of mourning, caring for yourself, red flags of grief, unfinished business and different kinds of death.

Grief Comes to Class – An Educator’s Guide by Majel Gliko-Braden

Handbook explaining children’s understanding of death and helping them deal with their feelings when grief comes to the classroom. Includes a bibliography and outlines a process for a conference for a grieving student.

Healing Your Grieving Heart 100 Practical Ideas by Alan Wolfelt

100 specific here and now suggestions on how to heal.

How Do We Tell The Children? By Dan Schaefer and Christine Lyons

A step-by-step guide for helping children – teen cope when someone dies.

Transcending Loss. Understanding the Lifelong Impact of Grief and How to Make it Meaningful by Ashley Prend

An inspiring new approach to the lifelong process of grieving. The author asserts that death doesn’t end the relationship, it simply forges a new type of relationship – one based not on physical presence but on memory, spirit, and love.

The Bereaved Parent by Harriet Schiff

A walk through the on-going grief after a child dies. Good recovery suggestions.

The Worst Loss: How families heal from the death of a child by Barbara Rosof

Helps families understand the grieving process, timetables and what they are feeling.

When the Bough Breaks: Forever after the death of a son or daughter By Judith Bernstein

How some parents have navigated through grief and the changes within the family.

MAGAZINES

Living with Loss: www.bereavementmag.com (888) 604-HOPE (4673)

This magazine is published six times per year and includes stories, poems, and articles for support.

Grief Digest Magazine www.griefdigest.com 866-218-0101

A quarterly magazine supporting grieving people and caregivers.

FOR TEENS

Fire in My Heart, Ice in My Veins by Enid Samuel Traisman

Age 12 & up. A grief journal for teens. Encourages teenagers to work through their grief in a creative and healthy way. It allows them to keep permanent memories of the person that died. It also gives them the skills to help them throughout their life when faced with grief and loss. It teaches teenagers how to use their creativity to work through the grieving process.

Flowers for the Ones You’ve Known by Janet Sieff and Enid Traisman

Age: 12 & up. Letters, poems, and drawings for grieving teens.

I Will Remember You: What to Do When Someone You Love Dies – A Guidebook Through Grief for Teens By Laura Dower

Age 12 & up. An inspirational and accessible guide to coping with loss. It includes personal stories of death and life from real teens, advice from a renowned grief counselor, and dozens of hands-on creative exercises to help teens move through their pain and sorrow.

Recovering From the Loss of a Sibling: When a Brother or Sister Dies by Katherine Donnelly

Age 12 & up. These intimate, true stories provide valuable insight, demonstrating that the reader is not alone and that others have gone through this devastating experience and have survived. In these pages, sisters and brothers share their innermost feelings, wanting others to gain comfort from their experiences.

Straight Talk about Death for Teenagers by Earl Grollman

Age 12 & up. Simple and direct. Addresses issues of death particularly affecting teenagers, such as normal reactions to shock of death, how grief can alter relationships, how to work through grief, and more. It also includes a journal section to record the memories of the person who died, your feelings about the loss, and your hopes for the future.

When Death Walks In by Mark Scravani

Age 12 & up. Looks at ways of facing grief during the teen years. Has lots of suggestions and hope.

FOR CHILDREN

Am I Still A Sister? by Alicia Sims

Age 6 & up. Vividly describes how a young girl feels when her sibling dies.

A Bunch of Balloons by Dorothy Ferguson

Age 4-10. Colorful workbook comparing loss of a loved one with the letting go of helium balloons.

A Child Remembers by Enid Traisman

Age 8-12. A grief journal for young people. Pages for remembering and storytelling.

A Terrible Thing Happened byMargaret Holmes

Age 4-8. This book is useful for helping children who have experienced trauma understand their feelings, consciously and subconsciously.

Badger’s Parting Gifts by Susan Varley

Age 4 & up. Focuses on what our loved ones who have died have taught us and how we are able to remember them. The use of animals to tell this story is well suited to the youngest children.

Cat Heaven and Dog Heaven by Cynthia Rylant

Age 2-8. Depicts heaven as a safe, nurturing place where cats and dogs go to live after they have died.

Class in Room 44 by Lynn Bennett Blackburn

Age 8-12. Specifically written for children whose classmate died. The story describes the reactions of the children when their friend is killed in a car accident. Resource for teachers and counselors who are helping students deal with this issue.

Everett Anderson’s Goodbye by Lucille Clifton

Age 4-8. This is a book for a young child who has lost a parent. Written in simple rhyme, it goes through the 5 stages of grief. As the last stage of grief is acceptance, it ends with “and no matter what happens when people die, love doesn’t stop and neither will I.”

I’ll Always Love You by Hans Wilhelm

Age 4-8. This is a book about grief and healing of a boy who loses his dog.

I Miss You. A First Look at Death by Pat Thomas

Age 4-7. This book explains in very gentle, simple terms what happens when a person dies. It talks about different feelings, including that we might feel bad about things that we did, or didn’t do, but that it is not our fault.

Lifetimes by Bryan Mellonie and Robert Ingpen

Age 3-8. Safe way to begin explaining death to children by describing lifetimes of animals, insects, plants, and people.

Sad Isn’t Bad by Michaelene Mundy

Age 4-12. An honest, comforting, child friendly book that addresses the many aspects of children’s grief. Includes topics such as “It’s okay to cry”, “It’s okay to ask questions”, “It’s not your fault”, and “It’s good to share your feelings”. Also very helpful to parents.

Since My Brother Died by Marisol Munoz-Kiehne

Age 5-10. Bilingual English/Spanish. A child recounts how things are different since his brother died and how he can continue to remember his brother throughout his life.

Talking About Death: A Dialogue Between Parent and Child by Earl Grollman

Simple, straightforward guide to answer children’s questions about death.

Tell Me, Papa by Mary Johnson

Age 3-10. Talks about saying goodbye and what happens at a funeral.

The Angel with the Golden Glow by Elissa Al-Chokhachy

Age 3-adult. Story about a little angel who is sent to Earth for a short time, in a special body that doesn’t work like everyone else’s, to spread love, joy, hope, and healing. And it is about another small angel who comes to Earth to be a part of the same family, after the “Angel with the Glow” returns to heaven.

The Empty Place by Roberta Temes

Age 5-10. The death of a sibling. An empty place – in the house, at the table, in the sibling’s heart. Deals with feelings.

The 10th Good Thing About Barney by Judith Viorst

Age 3-9. When a little boy’s cat, Barney, dies, his mother helps him prepare for the funeral and offers comfort by asking the boy to think of ten good things about Barney.

Timothy Duck by Lynn Bennett Blackburn

Age 6-10. Timothy is a duck whose best friend gets sick and then dies. Deals sensitively with the feeling part and the getting better part of losing a friend.

Water Bugs and Dragonflies by Stickney D. Cleveland

Age 4-12. Explaining death to young children. Beautiful life cycle.

When Dinosaurs Die: Understanding Death by Laurie Kransy Brown & Marc Brown

Age 5-8. Unlike many books on death for little ones, this one doesn’t tell a story. Instead, it addresses children’s fears and curiosity head-on, and in a largely secular fashion, by answering some very basic questions: “Why does someone die?” “What does dead mean?” “What comes after death?”

When someone very special dies: Children can learn to cope with grief by M Heegaard

Age 6-12. This is an interactive book which uses a practical format of drawing and coloring to help children to understand the concept of death and develop coping skills for life.

When the Wind Stops by Charlotte Zolotow

Age 4-8. A wonderfully written and illustrated story about the life cycle. A safe way to begin explaining death to young children.

Where’s Jess by Joy and Mary Johnson

Age 3-5. Answers to a little girl’s questions about what had happened to her baby sister.

Helpful Non-Profit Sites

AARP – American Association of Retired People Grief & Loss Site

A.G.A.S.T – Support Group for Grandparents

Alive Alone – for the education and charitable purposes to benefit bereaved parents.

Angels for Hope – We crochet angels and butterflies that are sent out all over the world upon request to those who are severely injured, chronically ill, and their caregivers or just someone that needs hope free of charge. We are now offering Smiley Faces for Hope for children also.

Babies Remembered – Honoring the sacred lives of precious babies, never forgotten, always loved.

Baby Steps – Support for those on the long road to recovery from the loss of a baby.

Balloon Release – A site about balloon releases and other memorial ideas.

Bereavement Poems-Articles – A site with helpful poems and articles on grief.

Carnation Foundation – We are With You providing compassion and dignity for every moment in life

Center for Loss in Multiple Births – We are parents who have experienced the death of one or more, both or all of our twins or higher multiples at any time from conception through birth, infancy and childhood.

Centering Corporation – dedicated to serving the needs of those healing from loss.

Comfort Zone Camps – Comfort zone camps are for children who are dealing with all kinds of grief. Death of parent, sibling or any type loss.

Compassionate Friends – Non-profit, self-help support organization open to all Bereaved Parents, Grandparents, and siblings.

Compassionate Friends of Atlanta – Atlanta, Georgia Site

COPE (Connecting Our Paths Eternally) – is a non-profit grief and healing organization dedicated to helping parents and families living with the loss of a child.

Fallen Heros Memorial – an online memorial for all of the fallen service members of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

Fernside.org – A Center for Grieving Children

Formomsonly.org – For Moms Only is a healing place where you will find other mothers who can help you on this difficult journey.

GRASP Grief Recovery After a Substance Passing – provides sources of help, compassion and most of all, understanding, for families or individuals who have had a loved one die as a result of drugs.

Grief and Loss – Blogs and websites by and for bereaved parents.

GriefWorks BC – A partnership between children’s and women’s Health Center of British Columbia

Grieving for Babies – Guides families and professionals towards understanding a grief caused by death of a baby during pregnancy, at birth and in the first few months of life.

Hospice & Palliative Care Foundation – Provides Bereavement Camps and Education materials to youth and families that have experienced a loss.

In Loving Memory On Line. – ‘Loving Memory is an organization dedicated to helping parents cope with the death of their only child or all of their children.’

Infants Remembered In Silence, Inc. – A site offering support, education and resources on the death of a child in early pregnancy (miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy etc.), or from premature birth, stillbirth, neo- natal death, birth defects, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), illness and all other types of infant and early childhood death.

Missing GRACE Foundation – Missing GRACE Foundation’s mission is to provide resources and support for families that have experienced: pregnancy loss, infant loss, infertility or adoption and to advocate for comprehensive, patient-focused prenatal care for all women. Five core areas encompass the heart of the mission:Grieve, Restore, Arise, Commemorate and Educate.

National Hospice & Pallative Care Organization – Improve quality of end of life services through Hospice service

National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children, Inc. – (E-mail) A self-help group dedicated solely to the aftermath and prevention of murder.

National SIDS & Infant Death Program Support Center

Open to Hope – Open To Hope website is an online community where people can find and share inspirational stories of life, loss and love. We encourage our visitors to read, listen, share, and contribute with honesty and compassion. Online forum with information and support so that people who experience loss can learn to cope with their pain, heal their grief, and invest in their future.

Our Children’s Memorial Walkway – A positive place to remember our children

Our Hearts of Hope: A “Pay it Forward” Community Service Program

Hearts of Hope – is a nationwide group of volunteers organized to create and distribute beautiful keepsake hearts, with message of hope, to people in need everywhere

Share – Pregnancy & Loss Support, Inc.

Sibling Connection, The – Resources for Bereaved Siblings

Silent Grief – “Support for All Who Have Suffered Miscarriage and Later Child Loss”

Sudden Infant Death Network – A World of Information & Support

Taps – The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, Inc. (TAPS) provides a wide variety of programs and information to survivors, military and casualty personnel and others.

The Gift of Keith – This is a website that deals with depression and suicide.

Twinless Twins – Serving in support of twins (all multiple births) who suffer from the loss of

companionship of their twin through death or estrangement.

Western Pennsylvania Families of Fallen Heroes– Memorial and information on armed force men/women from PA killed in Iraq and Afghanistan

Helpful Links for Siblings

Fernside.org – A Center for Grieving Children

The Gift of Keith – A memorial site designed by a bereaved sibling for siblings.

Sibling Connection, The – Resources for Bereaved Siblings

Teen Grief – This is a site to let teens connect with other teens for support.

Twinless Twins – Serving in support of twins (all multiple births) who suffer from the loss of

Companionship of their twin through death or estrangement.

Medical Resources and Support

Congenital Heart Defects – A resource for the Congenital Heart Defect Community on the Web

Health Begin – A very broad site about all kinds of health issues.

Histio – An informative website dealing with Histiocytosis.

National Jewish Medical and Research Center – A sight with information on many different diseases that they treat like

The Grief Recovery Institute – A grief resource for over 30 years for asthma and tuberculosis.

Trisomy 18 Support – A family support resource for those dealing with Trisomy 18

Memorial Sites

www.childrensmemorialandgarden.org – A site to promote places of beauty and serenity where all who grieve the loss of a child may come to find solace, comfort, and peace no matter what their affiliation to God and to unite the community, locally and nationally, through a renewal of a shared commitment to preserve, protect, and promote the well-being of children in our care.

Gone Too Soon – Create an everlasting tribute to someone close to you whom you have lost.

The Halo Garden – Hosts a collection of memorial website links, butterfly dedications, poetry, grief resources, and much more.

Lasting Tribute – Where you can dedicate a star to a baby or young child who has died. Every twinkling star in our night sky represents a baby or child who is no longer with us.

www.memoryjar.org – This is a site for sharing memories and information.

www.memory-of.com – Many touching memorials and help to set up your own memorial.

www.stillborn-angels.memory-of.com – This is a good site for information and memorials focused on stillborn deaths.

www.victims-of-violence.memory-of.com – Many touching memorials focused on violent deaths and help to set up your own memorial.