Young people, older teenagers and bereaved family members looking for a father died booklet, parent bereavement support, grief help after losing a dad, or bereavement information for children and teens are the most likely audience for this booklet. The cover and title identify it as My father died: a booklet for young people, while the visible introductory pages also explore the wider experience of losing a mother or father and how deep, complicated and personal that grief can feel.
The booklet begins with information about bereavement support available through Cruse, including face-to-face, telephone, email, website and helpline support. It then sets out the contents, with sections on feelings about a parent’s death, grieving, looking back, thinking about what has been lost, coming to terms with difficult feelings, family relationships, the remaining parent, where the bereavement leaves you, and building for the future.
The early text is especially useful for people who feel their grief has been underestimated because the death of a parent is sometimes seen as part of the natural order. It explains that a father or mother may have been a companion, a source of guidance, someone difficult, someone to rebel against, or simply the person whose absence now feels impossible to imagine. That makes it relevant for bereavement counsellors, school pastoral staff, social workers, youth workers and carers supporting a young person or young adult after the death of their dad.
There is a thoughtful focus on mixed emotions, including love, anger, hurt, regret, loyalty and awareness of a parent’s faults. The booklet also recognises how a parent’s death can bring back childhood memories, shift family roles, affect relationships with the surviving parent, and make someone feel unexpectedly vulnerable even when they are trying to be independent.
It can be used as a gentle reading resource at home, as a handout after a bereavement conversation, or as a prompt for one-to-one work with a bereaved teenager, young adult or adult child. The booklet is written by Susan Wallbank, who had extensive experience counselling bereaved young people.
