Support with bereavement and anxiety

[Sunnysummer24]

I have a highly anxious 8 year old who lost a grandparent nearly a year ago and is really struggling with anxiety and grief. Struggling as in upset and withdrawn, overwhelmed easily by noise and life situations, finds it difficult to get to sleep and stay asleep, often upset, struggling with friendship, constantly asking what the plan is and what will happen next.

I spoke to GP about her anxiety. The only thing she could offer was referral to CAHMS for autism assessment. I suspect she has at least ASD traits but not enough to say ASD and unsurprisingly the referral was rejected.

School has offered lunch time club a couple of times a week which she uses. She uses ear loops in the classroom when it’s too loud.

Does anyone have any other suggestions as to what else we have do to help her?

Try young minds. They are really knowledgeable and can signpost you to any other support available and give you some suggestions to try.

https://www.youngminds.org.uk/

Not sure where in the world you are based, but on the off chance that you are in Wales I thought I'd share this link to silver cloud, I found it very useful with my anxious child.

111.wales.nhs.uk/localservices/ViewLocalService.aspx?id=142991&s=Charities

I also have ND bereaved DC, one is a similar age to your DD.
I recommend Winston’s Wish https://www.winstonswish.org/ for bereavement support. They have lots of information on their website, a helpline and answer questions by email. They can also send you books to help. They have a book about supporting children with SEN but I haven’t read it because I didn’t realise my DC had ADHD/ autism until a while after DH died. We also had great support and play therapy from a local child bereavement charity, but it depends where you are because some areas don’t have anything like this.