Child bereavement training is increasingly being recognised as essential part of the skillset for anyone working with children and young people.
The sad fact is, 92% of children and young people experience a significant bereavement before the age of 16 and one in 29 will be lose a sibling or parent. That’s one in every class. Yet a recent survey shows 80% of school staff have had no bereavement training.
In 2014, Final Fling did some work with Cruse, the bereavement charity, to evaluate the need for child bereavement training in schools.There was an overwhelming ‘yes please’ from teachers and others who work with young people who felt ill-equipped to help children and young people coping with a loss.
Seeing a report of Final Fling’s feasibility study, Child Bereavement UK contacted us to share information about the training they offer. They are a national charity that supports families and educates professionals when a baby or child has died or when a child is bereaved of someone important in their lives.
“We train over 5,000 professionals a year across the UK including those working in the school community,” their Director of Training, Julia Lawrence told us. “We have recently launch an innovative e-learning programme specifically for schools – ‘Supporting Bereaved Pupils’.
“It’s been developed with input from families and teachers, and its aim is to increase confidence and offer practical skills for those supporting bereaved pupils.
“Although we train hundreds of teachers and learning assistants each year we realise that his is just scratching the surface, and so to by developing an e-learning module, it makes learning much more accessible for schools staff – both financially and in time.
“We know that appropriate, sensitive support can have a huge impact on the future well-being and long term outcomes for bereaved children. Schools are well placed to provide this, and with some training the capability to do so will be greatly enhanced.
“We know that it’s difficult for schools to find time and funds to release staff for traditional training , which is why we have developed this low cost, time efficient solution. It’s easy to use, highly interactive, a continual resource that can be accessed at any time, for as many school staff as want to use it. It also has down-loadable resources and CPD certificate on completion.”
Sounds like just the ticket.