During COVID and war, many children around the world have lost their parents or primary caretakers. I decided to share the following, which is slightly edited from a book.
Feel free to distribute it in your own language during this emergency. These resources also apply to other situations, when the caretaker is absent from the child for other reasons.
Some of the possible symptoms of the child in confusion:
Strong emotional response experienced when the loss is mentioned.
Lack of appetite, nightmares, restlessness, inability to concentrate, irritability, tearfulness, or social withdrawal that began subsequent to a loss.
Marked drop in school grades, and an increase in angry outbursts, hyperactivity, or clinginess when separating from parents.
Feelings of guilt associated with the unreasonable belief to have caused the loss or not having prevented it.
Avoidance of talking at length or in any depth about the loss.
(Fill in the other symptoms in the case you observe): __________________, __________________,
__________________.
GOALS
Grieve around the loss.
Complete the process of letting go of the lost significant other.
Reach a point of emotionally reinvesting in life.
Address feelings of guilt, depression, or anger
Other Goals:
__________________, __________________, __________________.
METHODS
Read a children's story about death & loss and afterward discuss the story.
Assess the possibility of suicide risk or depression.
Assess the home, school, and community for mental hygiene.
Use various art therapy techniques with clay, fingerpaints, and/or markers to help the child creatively express their feelings connected to their loss; ask them to give an explanation of their creation.
Tell the story of loss with fiction or puppets
Identify feelings through games and graphs
Ask the child to write a letter to the lost person
Explore the child's thoughts and feelings of guilt and blame surrounding the loss, replacing irrational thoughts with realistic thoughts
Conduct a pretend phone conversation in which the child apologizes for the behavior if they believe that itis the cause for the loss.
Ask the child to bring to a session pictures or mementos connected with the loss and to talk about them with the therapist
Encourage and support the child to look angry, then to act angry with props, and express anger through words.
Assist the child in making a record of their life in a book format to help present a past, present, and future life
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