Collective Grief
Collective grief
It is with real sadness we heard the news that Liam Payne from One Direction has died. The death of a celebrity can be shocking and upsetting. We’re sending love to his family and friends and all those who are affected by this sad news. For many young people he was a very important figure, someone they have grown up with. He felt like a friend to many. We are resharing our post on Collective Grief on socials and links to support are available on the website.
Many of us have got used to seeing and hearing about sad and upsetting things every day; when we listen to the news, watch television, look online there are stories of wars, naturals disasters, acts of terror, as well as accidents, murders and suicides.
As adults we have learned how to manage this news and our feelings in response to it, most of the time. However, there are sometimes incidents that shock, sadden or appall us and our usual strategies for managing are not so effective.
We might be particularly affected by the death of a very public figure such as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, or grieve the loss of a large number of lives in a tragic event such as the Grenfell Tower fire, or the wars in Ukraine, the Middle East and across Africa.
It doesn’t matter that we didn’t know the people who died, or their families and friends, we can still experience a shared grief. You may be feeling this in response to the very recent and tragic situation in Southport. It may have triggered questions from children in your family. It may have made you and your family remember other more personal losses.
If you need to answer questions or find ways to talk to children about death and dying you may find our blog Facing Difficult Conversations useful, or our film ‘Talking with children when someone has died’.
We also wanted to share this useful piece from Cruse about Collective Grief
CBUK and Winston’s Wish both operate national helplines if you want to talk to someone about the issues a public event has raised for you.