A Shared Grief Journal for Families

Someone I Love Has Died: A Shared Grief Journal for Children and Grown-Ups is a journal a child and a caring adult fill in together, side by side, a few minutes at a time. It is for children ages 6 to 10 and the grown-ups looking after them, who are often grieving too.

Some pages are for the kid, some are for the grown-up, and some you do together. Most take five to ten minutes. You can start anywhere, skip anything and come back another day. You don't need the right words to begin.

Inside the 116 pages:

• Remembering your person: memory pages, a kid's interview, letters and a memory box
• Where feelings show up in the body, balloon breaths and a comfort list
• Angry days, with safe things to try
• Worries and questions, including a page that says plainly it was not their fault
• Words to use when people ask, at school and with friends
• Silly days, things to look forward to, and planning for special days
• Pages for any day, to come back to whenever you like

The journal uses plain words like died and dead. It gives no cause of death and leaves beliefs about death open for each family. A note for the grown-up opens the book, and the last pages cover when it can help to talk to someone and where to find more support.

A companion to Someone I Love Has Died: A Grief Activities Book for Children.