Resources

Pete English on Losing a Pet for Headstrong

BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Video and article from the Headstrong Website. How to cope with the lose of a pet, with Pete English. A helpful page exploring Pete’s connection with his cat Thomas and pet bereavement as a topic.

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When Something Terrible Happens by Marge Heegaard

FACTUAL: The 'Drawing Out Feelings' series of books has been designed to provide parents, educators and counsellors with an organised approach to helping children cope with grief, family loss and change.

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When Someone Very Special Dies by Marge Heegaard

REFLECTION: A practical format for allowing children to understand the concept of death and develop coping skills for life, this book is designed for young readers to illustrate.

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Someone Has Died Suddenly by Mary Williams

FACTUAL: Written by Mary Williams the CEO of BRAKE, the road safety charity. This is a book about the sudden loss of a loved one through a traffic accident. 

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A Death in the Lives Of

ARTS/THEATRE (FACTUAL FILM): 20 minute film shows a group of young people aged 13-16, from a range of backgrounds talking about the kind of support they needed to help them cope with bereavement.

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Living on the Seabed by Lindsay Nicholson

BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Lindsay Nicholson looks at the grieving process and offers a roadmap to help all of us navigate a path none of us chooses but all of us must walk.

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When Children Grieve by John W. James and Russell Friedman

FACTUAL: In When Children Grieve, the authors offer a cutting-edge volume to free children from the false idea of “not feeling bad” and to empower them with positive, effective methods of dealing with loss.

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The Grief Recovery Handbook by John W. James and Russell Friedman

FACTUAL: Incomplete recovery from grief can have a lifelong negative effect on the capacity for happiness. Drawing from their own histories as well as from others’, the authors illustrate how it is possible to recovery from grief and regain energy and spontaneity.

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Love Untethered: How to Live When Your Child Dies by Vanessa May

BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Vanessa May gives a moving account of what she went through after the unexpected death of her son, demonstrating that it's possible to survive such a shattering and traumatic loss, even when that might feel impossible.

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Your Last Gift: Getting Your Affairs in Order by Matthew Hutton

FACTUAL: A practical guide to making life easy for your family and friends after your death. It will help you rest easy too knowing you have done everything to help them. A great book to read during 'Dying Matters' Week.

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Coping With - a Tragedy

ARTICLE: When a death is senseless, involves multiple losses or children, or when it could have been avoided, there is a deeper sense of trauma and grief.

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Cooking for One by Simon Beckett Allen

BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY: This new book is designed to help newly bereaved people learn to love cooking for themselves at a time when they may have lost interest in food or never learned to cook.

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Supporting Children When Someone They Love Has Died Through Suicide

FACTUAL: Produced by the Balloons Charity this leaflet gives tips and advice on how to support children bereaved by suicide.

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Living in the Mourning Light by Andrea Corrie

REFLECTION: A combination of reflection and autobiography, the book contains a variety of reflections about our inner strength and innate ability to overcome the worse of situations specifically in this case, bereavement.

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Loss of a Parent by Theresa Jackson

BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY: The author lost her father in 2007 and struggled to come to terms with the loss. With a career in medical communications and a Master's degree in clinical research, Theresa Jackson has combined the most effective resources, healing practices for grief and expert guidance on bereavement.

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Books Beyond Words - Mini Bereavement Set

FACTUAL: A collection of four books which cover bereavement and death suitable for people who find pictures easier than words, including learning disabilities and those whose first language is not English.

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The Bereavement Journey®: Offer the Programme

TRAINING COURSES: A proven way to help bereaved people in your community, with all the resources, information and support you need provided to make delivery easy.

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Coroners and Inquests: What to Expect

ARTICLE: If your loved one died unexpectedly, by suicide, in an accident or in unexplained causes, the death will be referred to a Coroner. Find out everything you need to know about this process here.

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Good Grief- Embracing Life at a Time of Death, by Catherine Mayer and Anne Mayer Bird

BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Mother and daughter Catherine and Anne, face widowhood on the eve of the pandemic. Sandi Toksvig says this is "The most life-affirming book ever written about death."

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Life. Death. Whatever.

WEBSITE: Life. Death. Whatever. is an initiative to redesign the dialogue around death and dying, to open it up and find new approaches to this important subject. This project ran from 2016 and has now closed. The website remains online as an archive, preserving all the wonderful submissions and contributions received over the years.

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Open to Hope

WEBSITE: An online website where people can share inspirational stories of loss and love. We encourage our visitors to read, listen and share their stories of hope and compassion.

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How It Feels When a Parent Dies by Jill Krementz

BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY: The short writings hold a range of reactions to the death of a parent. The authors come from different backgrounds, situations and circumstances, yet they hold one thing in common: losing a parent.

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Children and Grief by William Worden

FACTUAL: Drawing upon extensive interviews and assessments of school-age children who have lost a parent to death, this book offers a richly textured portrait of the mourning process in children.

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Young People Bereavement Training by Listening People

TRAINING COURSES: Listening People training and resources provide tools for teachers, youth workers, counsellors and anyone who works with young people to safely and confidently enable them to engage around the difficult topic of loss.

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ABSCo (Association of Bereavement Service Coordinators)

WEBSITE: ABSCo was formed to meet the need for a network for support and information for bereavement and palliative care industry professionals who coordinate and manage bereavement support services within hospices and palliative care settings, for both adults and children.

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A Sky of Diamonds by Camille Gibbs

NOVEL/STORY: An illustrated storybook about a girl named Mia who has experienced the death of her mother. Covering all stages of grief, it is perfect for reading with bereaved children aged 5-9 as a way to help them overcome their difficult feelings. It includes in-built strategies for coping with grief and answers many questions that children have about death.

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Great Answers to Difficult Questions About Death: What Children Need to Know by Linda Goldman

FACTUAL: This book explores children's thoughts and feelings on the subject of death and provides parents and other caring adults with guidance on how to respond to difficult questions.

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A Valley Journal Resources through blogs, articles and books on grief and how to handle it.

WEBSITE: A Valley Journal is a website which encompasses bereavement advice, dates to book bereavement “Living with Loss” retreats, poetry, blogs and more. It is curated by Abi May.

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With the End in Mind: Dying, Death and Wisdom in an Age of Denial by Kathryn Mannix

BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY: A book of stories from the bedsides of patients facing death, Kathryn shares the experiences that have enabled her to see dying as something we can plan for.

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Our Greatest Gift: A Meditation on Dying and Caring by Henri Nouwen

REFLECTION: In this book of personal reflections, the author hopes to encourage those who are dying to die well and those who care for the dying to care well.

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Alison Wertheimer, A Special Scar: The Experiences of People Bereaved by Suicide

FACTUAL: A 'Special Scar' looks in detail at the stigma surrounding suicide and offers practical help for survivors, relatives and friends of people who have taken their own life.

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