Overcoming Loss: Activities and Stories to Help Transform Children’s Grief and Loss

Julia Sorensen is currently studying towards a Doctorate in Psychology, having attained a Master's Degree in Psychology with specialty training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. She is a registered professional counsellor and certified therapist and works as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist in private practice as well as with community based organizations, individuals and families. Julia lives in Canada and may be reached at thecbtcoach.com.

This book is a photocopiable resource that addresses childrens' feeling of loss, arising from many causes. Designed to encourage social and emotional learning, these exercises use play, art and story-telling to access the ways in which children naturally express their feelings, offering ways to direct the child towards understanding their emotions.

Introduction. How to use this workbook. PART I: Expressive activities : Feelings. Activity 1 ? Creating a safe place to be...: An introduction to feeling work. Activity 2 ? Feeling puzzle: What are the names of your feelings? Activity 3 ? Match the feeling game: Recognizing your feelings. Activity 4 ? Faces collage: Learning what emotions are expressed on faces. Activity 5 ? Feeling faces: Draw a face to match the feeling word. Activity 6 ? Feeling words: Building a vocabulary of feeling words. Activity 7 ? Finish the sentence...: Choose a feeling word from the vocabulary list to end these sentences. Activity 8 ? What color are my feelings? Find out what color your feelings are. Activity 9 ? Feelings rainbow: Expressing your feelings through colors. PART II: Expressive activities: Identifying everyday losses. Activity 10 ? Saying goodbye is hard to do: Learning about everyday closures. Activity 11 ? Talking about losses of pets or toys: Recognizing, talking about, and drawing pet or toy losses. Activity 12 ? Good memories: Gathering memories. Activity 13 ? Memory boxes: A place to honor. Activity 14 ? New perspectives: A new way to remember and feel. PART III: Approaching the loss experience through fiction. Activity 15 ? Story time: Lilly has to say goodbye PART IV: Creating Groups: Four-week curriculum. Tools and templates: Appendix A: Cover page to be used if exercises are to be made into a personalized book. Appendix B: Feelings vocabulary list. Appendix C: US, Canadian, UK and EU resources; international web resources. Appendix D: Recommended reading. Appendix E: Handouts A1-A4. Appendix F: Group screening questionnaire and group evaluation activity. About the author.