When Grief Comes Home: A Gentle Guide for Living Through Loss While Supporting Your Child - Softcover

Erin Leigh Nelson; Montague, Colleen E.,LMFT

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1540904067 ISBN 13: 9781540904065

Publisher: Baker Books, 2025

Synopsis

When death touches your family, you are never quite prepared. Complicating your personal pain and the need to grieve is the equally important task of helping your children understand and process the loss of a loved one. How should you answer your child's questions about death? Should you let them see you cry? How can you support their resilience? How can you help preserve memories?

Drawing from their own personal and professional experience, Erin Nelson and Colleen Montague help you navigate loss alongside your child. They provide honest ways to talk to your child about death according to age and stage of development and offer ideas on how to process, honor, and integrate loss. Chapters end with reflective questions and healing activities that lead to more meaningful connection between parents and children, inspiring hope for the future.

When families find healing practices together, they find ways to integrate their loss and expand their capacity to thrive. Through times of tragedy, when parents and children have the support they need, the shared experience of grief can become part of their family's sacred story.

About this title

About the Authors

Erin Nelson is the founder and executive director of Jessica's House, a grief support center for children and families. Through the tragic losses of her husband in a mid-air collision, her mother to suicide, and her son in a car accident, Erin has learned the importance of grief support for children and teens. She is an advanced certified trauma practitioner through the National Institute of Trauma and Loss in Children and has been supporting grieving families for more than 20 years.

Colleen Montague is a licensed marriage and family therapist and director of community outreach for Jessica's House, supporting parents and their children after a death in their family.

From the Back Cover

How to grieve, heal, and develop resilience--together

When death touches your family, you are never quite prepared. Complicating your personal pain and the need to grieve is the equally important task of helping your child understand and process the loss of a loved one. How should you answer your child's questions about death? Should you let them see you cry? How can you support their long-term resilience? How can you help preserve the memories of your loved one? How can you care for yourself while helping your children through such a difficult time? 

Drawing from their personal and professional experience, Erin Nelson and Colleen Montague offer gentle wisdom as you grieve your loss alongside your child. They share insight on how to support a grieving child, how to express and honor grief, and how to move toward healing as a family. Each chapter includes reflective questions for parents, family activities, and conversation starters that lead to more meaningful connections between you and your child. Chapters end with blessings to inspire hope for your future.

As you learn to live again through loss, When Grief Comes Home will be your companion through the dark, lighting the way to your next moment, so you know you're not alone.

Edition details

• Publisher: Baker Books
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1540904067
• ISBN 13: 9781540904065
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192