Counseling Children Experiencing Grief

Many children experience the loss or death of a parent, sibling, grandparent, and even a pet during their formative childhood years. Grief is a normal emotional reaction to loss and death. Although many individuals process grief effectively, some struggle to cope (Cohen & Mannarino, 2011) adequately. Grief symptoms in children vary. Some children exhibit emotional shock and confusion, while some younger children may present with explosive, avoidant, and immature regressive behaviors (Ener & Ray, 2018).