When a child experiences the death of their mother, father or sibling, those of us who meet them through our work want to support the child and family as best we can. At the same time, it can be difficult to know what to say and do.

The posters bring together knowledge about children and grief in brief, practical advice, and can be used as a starting point for reflection and discussion in the workplace. We hope they can help focus attention on how to support grieving children and families.

From LinkedIn to Norwegian posters

Martin Lytje regularly shares knowledge about children and grief on LinkedIn. When he shared this material, we contacted him to ask whether we could make it available in Norwegian. Together, we translated and adapted the content, and turned it into posters using BarnsBeste’s graphic profile.

Lytje is a trained psychologist, holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, and is affiliated with the Centre for Crisis Psychology at the University of Bergen. For over 16 years, he has researched, taught and advised on serious illness, death and grief, with a particular focus on children and young people.

He has also writtenA Handbook on Grief in Young Childrenin collaboration with Atle Dyregrov.

Five posters, five themes

• When families are grievingis about how families can stand together by telling the truth, sharing their grief and accepting help.
• Grief in young children – meet them where they areis about how young children grieve differently from adults, often expressing themselves through play and symbols, and how brief conversations can mean a lot.
• Supporting school-age children through griefis about how strong feelings can return, how friends also need support from adults, and how children often know for themselves what helps.
• When parents are grieving …is about how parents may feel that they are not doing enough, and how others can help them find the words and stay in touch after the funeral.
• Grief support that helpsshows what you can do instead of offering well-meaning but unhelpful advice—for example, offering something specific instead of saying, “Let us know if you need anything.”

Who are the posters for?

The posters are primarily intended for people who meet children and families as part of their role. For example, they can be put up in staff rooms, used as a starting point for reflection at staff meetings, or used as examples in teaching.

Download the posters

All the posters are available with a blue or white background. The white version is suitable for printing on a standard office printer, where a coloured background often leaves a white border. For professional printing, you can download the blue PDFs with crop marks.

If you use the content in other contexts, please credit BarnsBeste and Martin Lytje as the source.