Jean Simons says parents who have lost a child may resent their grief being labelled as unduly prolonged, and Louise Rendle says a support group was invaluable when her husband died. Plus a letter from Rev Cecil Heatley
Emine Saner’s article on grief mentions the “especially profound” loss occasioned by the death of a child (‘It’s like the loss happened yesterday’: prolonged grief is now a disorder in the US – so how long is too long to mourn?, 16 June). As a former coordinator of bereavement services at Great Ormond Street hospital, I was privileged to work for more than 20 years with parents bereaved of a child in many circumstances – not only parents of children who had suffered an illness, and not only those of young children. The death of an adult child occasioned much the same reaction of despairing grief in the surviving parents.
Almost universally mentioned by the hundreds of parents contacting the service was the reluctance to acknowledge the concept of “moving on”, with its connotation of “forgetting”. Careful reassurance was needed that “moving on” would focus on remembering the child and valuing the parent’s way of incorporating their memories into their continuing family life.
Continue reading...from Lifestyle | The Guardian https://ift.tt/LB9q7uw