Children at the Bedside: Preparing children for the death of someone close to them

Children at the Bedside: Preparing children for the death of someone close to them

Date: May 6, 2019

This training is suitable for: Front-line workers, volunteers, medical professionals, clergy, social workers, administrators, residential workers, counsellors, funeral service providers, and hospice volunteers.

Facilitator: 
Andrea Warnick, RN., MA. 
Andrea is an educator, grief counsellor, nurse, and thanatologist with 20 years of experience in providing grief support and education. Her passions lie both in working directly with families experiencing the dying or death of someone close to them and in teaching others how to optimize their care of the dying and bereaved, particularly when children are involved. Recognizing the provision of support for grieving children and youth as a social justice issue, Andrea brings the topics of dying, death, and grief into the necessary realm of discussion, education, and advocacy. Andrea runs her own education and counselling practice in Toronto, Andrea Warnick Consulting.

Description: This workshop will provide real-life and real death narratives to identify practical strategies that can be used to support children and youth who are experiencing the impending death of someone in their lives. Societal discomfort, myths and misconceptions surrounding the topic of children and death will be addressed through open discussion. Participants will gain practical strategies and creative approaches for preparing children for a death of someone close to them. 

Overview: Supporting children and youth who are experiencing the dying of someone close to them is a challenging experience across all disciplines, even for the most skilled professional. There is a growing body of research encouraging authenticity, honesty and inclusion of children experiencing a death. Yet too often children and youth remain excluded from the experience of illness, dying and death, leading to a sense of alienation for the child and a missed opportunity for their growth and connection. In our intent of protecting, we often unintentionally unplug the child from relationships both prematurely and unnaturally. 

Real-life and real death narratives will be used throughout this workshop to identify practical strategies that can be used to support children and youth who are experiencing the impending death of someone in their lives. 

Participants will learn:

• The roots of our societal discomfort with the topic of children and death. 
• Myths and misconceptions which create barriers to children being included at the bedside of someone who is dying.
• Practical strategies and creative approaches for preparing children for a death, including a death through Medical Assistance in Dying.
• Literary, web, and local resources for supporting children who are experiencing the dying of someone close to them.

This is Learning Module 1 of the 2019 Certificate Program in Children's Grief and Bereavement. This module may be taken separately from the certificate program as a stand-alone workshop.