Loss

Written by historian and museum curator Sarah Chavez, We Need to Talk About Death helps children understand what happens when we die in a gentle, honest, and reassuring way. Exploring how different cultures around the world honour and remember loved ones, this thoughtful book opens up age-appropriate conversations about loss, remembrance, and the many ways we keep people’s memories alive.

In this unique and compassionate guide, renowned grief counselor Helen Fitzgerald turns her attention to the special needs of adolescents struggling with loss and gives teens the tools they need to work through their pain and grief.

Fitzgerald guides teens through everything from the sickbed to the funeral, from the first day back at school to the first anniversary of the death. Above all, she lets teens know that even in their darkest hour, they are not alone.

Does my child understand? I wonder what they are thinking and feeling. A child's grief experience is very complex and differs dependent on developmental level, age, and relationship to the person who died. It is so important that children receive the opportunity to intentionally process their grief with a provider trained in trauma and grief in children.

This is a 1:1 45 minute video session for children 4 and above to meet with a mental health provider from Hearts Connected, an organization connecting children and families to child life support services nationwide. All practitioners have extensive experience and expertise supporting children 0-21 with grief and loss.

Every session is tailored to the individual needs of the child and family. A session may involve education about death and dying, a therapeutic activity, memory making, or emotional processing. At the end of a session, the child's parent will have a chance to meet with the provider and go over the needs assessed during that session for ongoing support.

Parents will also be provided access to a private Facebook group including support, resources, research, and education for parents surrounding children's grief.

Any add-ons purchased will be sent in the care package as a gift certificate.

Award-winning author Andrew Larsen beautifully captures the special bond between a child and a grandparent, and sensitively deals with a child’s loss of a loved one. Using the motif of their shared love of birds and its physical manifestation in the form of the bird feeder allows for a continuity in the child’s life that puts the loss in a larger context.

Larsen offers an authentic, straightforward presentation of the process of a loved one’s death, from being sick, to going to the hospice, to participating less and less in their relationship, to death.

It will lead young readers to ask their own questions about life, death and how we remember those who die. The cool palette and simple lines in Dorothy Leung’s art evoke empathy for the child’s experience, while the presence of the birds adds life and hope to the visual story.

Recommended for pre-teens and teens

Written by grief counselor Dr. Korie Leigh, It Won’t Ever Be the Same is a compassionate guide created specifically for teens navigating loss. Through reflections, relatable analogies, and creative exercises, the book helps young people name, express, and make sense of complex emotions. Each chapter includes gentle “Give It a Try” activities - like journaling prompts, reflection questions, and small coping exercises - designed to help teens process grief in their own way and at their own pace. Featuring words and artwork from other grieving teens, it offers reassurance, connection, and the reminder that they are not alone as they learn to live alongside grief.

After losing her ex-husband to suicide, ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton shares an honest and compassionate memoir about navigating grief, trauma, and healing. Blending personal experience with medical insight, this book offers comfort, understanding, and gentle guidance for anyone supporting someone - or surviving - the loss of a loved one to suicide.

Everyone faces loss, and everyone grieves. But grief is as unique as a thumbprint - not everyone grieves the same losses or in the same way. This can feel lonely and isolating, especially when people don't know what to do or say. A Guide to Grief covers everything you need to know about death and loss that no one wants to talk about, including:

• What to expect in the days, months and years after loss
• The different kinds of loss
• How to ask for help
• How to help a grieving friend

Gift a digital library of playful, self-soothing, 5-minute videos by Roots Up. The videos include evidence-based mind/body tools to help children relieve stress, navigate big emotions, build emotional resilience, and develop healthy coping skills.

Although the library was designed for children ages 4-12, caregivers of all ages have benefited from the videos alongside the children they care for. The videos are easy to use (just press play), and were co-designed with children to support them on their emotional healing journeys. 

Each video includes deep breathing, mindfulness, yoga postures and guided imagery, all evidence-based techniques that offer in-the-moment relief and life-long coping skills. All videos in the library are backed by research, trauma-informed, offer seated and movement options, and were designed to support children of all neurotypes. 

Here's what people are saying:

“Roots Up’s guided meditation library was the only ticket to sleep that my daughter had for a long time. The videos became our bedtime ritual. I can't begin to express how grateful I was to have found Roots Up and for the impact that it had on my daughter and our family." 

Any add-ons purchased will be sent in the care package as a gift certificate.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

If you’re suffering from anxiety but not sure why, or if you’re struggling with loss and looking for solace, Anxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief offers help and answers. As grief expert Claire Bidwell Smith discovered in her own life—and in her practice with her therapy clients—significant loss and unresolved grief are primary underpinnings of anxiety.  

With concrete tools and coping strategies for panic attacks, getting a handle on anxious thoughts, and more, Smith bridges these two emotions in a way that is deeply empathetic and profoundly practical.