St Mary’s to run Child Bereavement Training for Teachers

St Mary’s University, Twickenham will be holding online bereavement awareness training for primary and secondary schools in partnership with Child Bereavement UK.

The training will develop participants’ understanding of the impact of bereavement on children and young people, as well as presenting practical strategies and ideas for supporting those affected.

The course will cover an overview of grief; children’s understanding of death; the models of grief and understanding children’s responses; the factors affecting grief; practical ideas for managing a child’s responses to their grief; creating a bereavement aware culture: policies and procedures; and local and national pathways for support.

This one-and-a-half-hour course is only available for schools and is offered on six dates with separate sessions for primary and secondary schools. The next session for primary schools is the 10^th of November and the 20^th of October for secondary schools.

Back in September Sky News spoke with the Director of the Institute of Education at St Mary’s, Prof Anna Lise Gordon who said “They're looking at things around the language we use to talk about death. People are incredibly awkward when talking about death. They often don't know what to say.

So therefore, don't say anything, which actually is probably the worst thing you can do in most cases. The collaboration between Child Bereavement UK, St Mary’s and local schools is intended to ‘normalise’ conversations about death with children and young people.”

You can read the full report on the Sky News website and visit the University website to book your place.