Building Support Systems for Bereaved Children

92% of children and young people will experience a 'significant' bereavement before the age of 16 and 1 in 25 school age children will have been bereaved of a parent or sibling. (Winston's Wish). Therefore bereavement is, or will be, a significant issue for the majority of children and young people before they leave statutory school age. Schools therefore have a key role to play in providing bereavement support, and yet death remains an issue many of us find uncomfortable, difficult, or even traumatic to talk about. 

This course offers support, guidance and information about managing bereavement within a school setting. It considers the impacts of a significant bereavement on children, linking this to child development, and explores some of the ways in which children process and display grief. It addresses what other factors may impact on children's experiences of death and dying, including complicated grief and protective factors. 

The course goes on to explore modern grief theory, including Continuing Bonds, and how this informs how we can best support children experiencing bereavement and pre-bereavement.

Finally the course considers bereavement from a whole school perspective, suggesting ways in which schools can plan for and manage death within the school community as a whole. 

Rachael Courage is a qualified social worker with 20 years practice experience. She is an experienced trainer in child safeguarding and child protection and has managed sexual exploitation and missing services for Barnardos, including setting up services in new areas and working with Child Safeguarding Assurance Partnership around their strategic response to child sexual exploitation.

Rachael has been the safeguarding lead for the children and young people's service within a hospice and has worked for the NSPCC delivering individual and group therapeutic interventions for children who have experienced abuse.

Rachael is currently practicing as a Chair for Child Protection Conferences for a Local Authority.