ALS Learning Series: Grief & Loss in Children & Youth, with Melinda Kavanaugh, PhD, MSW, LCSW

In April, we shifted our discussion to how children cope with grief and loss. Despite the growing focus on persons living with ALS and their adult caregivers, children and youth remain the most hidden and least addressed in families with ALS, including discussions of grief, loss and death. This is often due to the fear many parents have in how to talk about death and dying, fear that what they say will scare or upset their child, but also when to say it. Many parents want to know, will my child be ok to grieve? What does grief look like in children and youth? Youth know things are changing, but not always sure what or how. But what we do know is that they want to hear it from their parents and family.
Additional resources can also be found at uwm.edu/ycare/resources/
Presenter: Melinda Kavanaugh, PhD, MSW, LCSW, Associate Professor, Social Work and Director in Social Welfare at the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.