Child bereavement

[Willowlondoner]

Hello,

My sister and her husband tragically lost our 3 year old niece one month ago very suddenly and unexpectedly.

They aren't doing well which is understandable, and we are struggling to find a bereavement councillor through a charity, who can see them immediately. They can't wait three months or longer and I'm concerned about their deteriorating mental health.

I'm currently staying with them to help out, but I'm not sure what to do. I'm looking at private options.

Can I check if anybody has experience so to grief counselling?

Many thanks

Op sorry I can't help or offer advice but wanted to say I'm so sorry for your loss 😢

What a truly awful thing to happen to you all. Don’t forget to take care of yourself and your own grief too. Have you tried:

The Compassionate Friends
SLOW
Lullaby Trust
Good Grief Trust
Cruse

Take care ❤️

Compassionate Friends is an amazing charity for bereaved parents if you're in the UK. I'm very sorry for your loss.

How very sad for all the family. Do you have a childrens hospice nearby? They usually offer bereavement counselling, you don’t need to have been a user of the other hospice services, just a grieving family.

@Willowlondoner I lost my son 7 years ago and was handed a leaflet on leaving hospital. I wasn't offered any counselling and I'm on a 4 year waiting list for counselling right now.
If I can help any way pm me. Its such a personal thing that only folk who have went thru it truly get it.
You are doing a wonderful job being with them they need co.pany and support x

Op also try the bereavement thread. @Dawn1331 wishing you well x

I have worked in this sector. It is completely normal to be grieving at this point and research we did showed that counselling was not beneficial at this point, typically an initial assessment was offered from around the 3 month mark, with counselling commencing in the next few weeks.

With kindness, it's a horrible thing to happen and they really don't need an outsider helping them cope yet, they need time to grieve

With all due respect in my initial grief I would have welcomed empathy and advice from someone who had went thru it.
I may be an outsider but I'm a member of the club no parent wants to be in and sometimes that's just what you need.
Also not everyone is the same and counselling should be offered before the event if there's a prognosis or as soon as its happened.
Again I say this with kindness but if you haven't been thru it you don't really know

Thank you all for your messages and I'm so sorry to see that some of you have experienced this directly.

I totally understand that people have different grieving processes, I'm just at a loss really as to how I can help them and they have both expressed that they would like counselling. I have reached out to the suggested charities and in the meantime I've found a private therapist to speak with tomorrow. I'm here for a week from Switzerland and today I've managed to encourage them to do some yoga and go to the supermarket which felt like a nice step forward. If anybody has any other tips of activities that helped them I would truly appreciate it.