Trusted Online Resources
If you're struggling with grief or need immediate support, you're not alone.
Here are trusted resources that can help.
Immediate Support
If you're having thoughts of self-harm or suicide, please reach out immediately:
Free, confidential support for young people
0800 1111
Available 24/7
Emotional support for anyone in distress
116 123
Available 24/7, free from any phone
Shout Crisis Text Line – Text SHOUT to 85258
Grief and Mental Health Support Organisations
These organisations offer a range of counselling options and guidance:
Practical support and guidance for grieving children and young people, families and professionals.
0800 02 888 40
Free bereavement support services across the UK.
0808 808 1677
Offers free, confidential online mental health support for young people, including counselling, self-help tools, and peer support.
Support specifically for young people coping with death and bereavement.
hopeagain.org.uk
Mental health support and information for young people
Text YM to 85258
Provides free support for under-25s through articles, counselling, crisis support, and advice on mental health, relationships, housing, and wellbeing.
Online Support
More online support for young people
Guides and downloadable materials to help support bereaved young people
Articles, tools,book and curated lists to help people understand and navigate grief.
Official guidance on grief, bereavement, and emotional wellbeing.
A large collection of trusted information, stories, and signposting to bereavement support across the UK. It helps people find practical and emotional support after a loss, tailored to different needs and situations.
Explore grief in your own way
Stories, voices, films, books, and interactive experiences that help people feel less alone in grief.
Podcasts
Real voices and honest conversations you can listen to, helping you feel understood and less alone in your grief. Grief in Common Young people speak honestly about their grief in open, relatable conversations, offering comfort and a sense of shared experience across different kinds of loss. Persevering: Grief As Told By Young People A podcast created by young people who’ve experienced loss, sharing personal stories and conversations to break the taboo around grief and help others feel less alone. Griefcast Conversations about grief that mix honesty with humour, showing how people carry loss over time. The Dead Sibling Society A podcast where people who have lost a sibling share honest conversations about grief, identity, and growing up after loss, helping others feel less alone in their experience. Dead Parent Club A podcast where young people who’ve lost a parent share candid, sometimes funny and often deeply relatable conversations about grief, identity, and finding your way forward.
Books
Stories and reflections that help make sense of grief, offering comfort, insight, and connection through reading. Michael Rosen’s Sad Book – Michael Rosen (6+) Honest picture book exploring grief, sadness, and continuing connection through the author’s own experience of loss. Although written in a simple, illustrated format, it is used with children, young people, and adults as a gentle way into understanding grief. The Boy in the Black Suit – Jason Reynolds (14+) Teen working in a funeral home after his mother’s death. Clap When You Land – Elizabeth Acevedo (14+) Sudden loss, identity, and family complexity. You Are Not Alone – Cariad Lloyd (14+) Personal stories and reflections on grief and connection. Letters from the Grief Club (16+) Essays exploring many forms of grief. Bearing the Unbearable – Joanne Cacciatore (older teens 16+ & adults) Reflective, emotional exploration of grief (also used by professionals).
Films
Powerful stories you can watch that explore grief, loss, and healing in ways that are often easier to feel than to explain. A Monster Calls (2016) For: Young people (12+) and supporters A visually powerful story about a boy coping with his mum’s illness, using imagination to process grief, fear, and anger. Bridge to Terabithia (2007) For: Children (10+) and young teens with support Explores friendship, imagination, and sudden loss in childhood in a gentle but emotionally real way. The Fault in Our Stars (2014) For: Teens and young adults A love story shaped by illness and anticipatory grief, focusing on connection, humour, and meaning in limited time. Coco (2017) For: Children (7+), teens, and families A warm and accessible story about death, memory, and continuing bonds with those who have died. Often used in grief education because it gently introduces ideas of remembrance, family connection, and talking about those who have died. Inside Out (2015) For: Children, teens, and supporters An accessible way to understand emotions and sadness after change or loss, especially helpful for talking about feelings. The Thing with Feathers (2025) - drama based on the book Grief Is the Thing with Feathers – Max Porter For: Older teens (15+) and adults A surreal, emotionally intense story about a father grieving his wife while being haunted by a crow-like presence that represents his grief.
Apps & Games
Interactive spaces you can explore at your own pace, offering gentle support and new ways to understand your grief. Apart of me (free app) Award-winning therapeutic game for young people (11+) who are grieving someone they love. It offers a calming interactive world to explore grief at your own pace and find gentle, creative support. Tellmi (free app) A safe, anonymous space for young people (11–25) to share what they’re going through and feel less alone. Spiritfarer (game) (paid – available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, PC) A beautifully illustrated management game (12+) about helping spirits pass on. It explores themes of death, saying goodbye, and continuing bonds in a gentle, reflective way. GRIS (game) (paid – available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, PC, iOS) A visually rich, wordless game (12+) about navigating grief through emotion, colour, and journey. It focuses on emotional expression rather than narrative explanation, making it open to interpretation.
If you’re supporting someone
Ideas and guidance to help you be alongside a young person in grief.
Books
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Helping Teens Cope with Death – Edward Myers
A practical guide for parents, carers, and professionals supporting grieving teenagers, offering insight into how teens experience loss and how adults can respond in helpful ways.
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Bearing the Unbearable – Joanne Cacciatore
A compassionate exploration of grief from a bereavement specialist.
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With the End in Mind – Kathryn Mannix
Real stories from end-of-life care, helping make sense of death and dying.
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Listen – Kathryn Mannix
Explores the importance of being heard and how listening supports people through difficult experiences.
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Grief Works – Julia Samuel
Combines therapy stories and guidance to help understand and navigate grief over time.
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The Wild Edge of Sorrow - Francis Weller
Explores grief as a deeply human and cultural experience, offering reflections on ritual, meaning, and healing through loss.
Hearing from young people
Listening to young people talk about their own grief can sometimes help you understand what they might be feeling, even if they can’t say it directly.
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Grief in Common Podcast
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Persevering: Grief As Told By Young People podcast
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Apart of Me webpage: What Young People Want Adults to Know
There is no perfect way to support someone through grief. These resources are here to offer understanding, ideas, and moments of connection, not instructions.
Deeper understanding of young people’s grief
Resources that help explain how grief and trauma affect young people emotionally, physically, and in behaviour. These are useful for both parents and educators who want to understand responses rather than only manage them.
This is a free, pre-recorded training for anyone supporting people through difficult experiences, including grief and bereavement.
It explores how trauma can affect the mind and body, and what it can look like to respond in ways that feel safe, steady, and supportive.
You don’t need to be a professional to find this helpful, many parents and carers use it simply to better understand what their young person might be going through, and to feel a bit more confident in how they respond.
Beacon House offers a collection of free, accessible articles and guides about trauma, attachment, and emotional healing.
Their approach is grounded in the belief that understanding what’s happening inside a child or young person can help us respond with more compassion, even when things feel difficult or unclear.
These resources are written in a way that’s practical and gentle, and parents and carers can use them as a way to make sense of behaviours, emotions, and reactions that can come with grief.
Schools & education support
Support and guidance for schools, teachers, and education staff helping children and young people through grief.
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Guide me school programme by Apart of me
Guide Me is a 12-week school programme for young people aged 11–16 who are grieving the death of someone they love. It offers a creative, supportive space to explore grief, connect with others, and learn gentle ways to cope while staying connected to the love that remains.
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Childhood Bereavement Network (CBN)
A national network that brings together organisations supporting bereaved children and young people. It provides guidance, research, and signposting to help schools and professionals improve bereavement support.
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Child Bereavement UK – Schools & training resources
Practical guidance for schools supporting bereaved pupils, including toolkits, lesson support, and staff training.
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Cruse Bereavement Care – Schools information
Guidance for schools and professionals on supporting bereaved pupils and creating grief-aware environments.
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Apart of Me – In This Together Report: Building Communities to Help Young People Through Grief
A youth-informed report exploring how schools, communities, and adults can better support grieving young people.
It highlights what helps, what is missing, and how environments like schools can feel more emotionally safe and responsive after a bereavement.