The many creative ways parents express grief following the death of a child

Introduction: The death of a child is known to be one of the most devastating life event., Understanding how "normal" bereavement may present can be confronting to family and health professionals. This presentation will examine the many creative ways parental bereavement may be expressed.

Objective: Encourage health professionals to normalise and explore the variety of ways parental bereavement may be expressed following the death of a child through any means that makes sense and is powerful to the parent.

Approach: Use of pictures, music, art and the powerful medium of narrative to examine the many stories of parents' expressions of grief and memory making following the death of their baby or child.

Practice Implications: Bereaved parents are often desperate to have their expressions of grief validated and normalised. This presentation will give permission and open up ideas to health professionals on the many creative ways that parents may express love and longing following the death of their child.

Conclusion: Due to new mediums such as social media, access to a range of creative expressions of parental bereavement is becoming more common, Health professionals need to provide bereaved parents with a range of creative tools, ideas and counselling techniques to express their deep loss and love.

9237 The many creative ways parents express grief (2.38MB pdf)