Supporting Your Child After the Death of a Parent

Welcome to the When Grief Comes Home podcast. We're glad you're here. This podcast supports parents who are grieving a spouse, partner, or child while helping their children who are living through the loss of a parent or sibling. With personal grief stories and professional guidance, we offer parents practical tips for supporting their child who is grieving while caring for their own grief. 

When your child loses their parent, they often experience a compromised sense of safety. They may wonder if something else bad might happen and even worry about their surviving parent’s health and well being. In this episode we explore how to support your child and help bring security and comfort after the death of their parent. 

We offer insights and resources on how to support your child after the death of their parent with ideas on how to explain death to your child. 

Please subscribe to the When Grief Comes Home podcast and leave us a review. The more stars, reviews, and downloads the show receives, the more parents and families in grief can find support.  

Order the book When Grief Comes Home https://a.co/d/ijaiP5L

For more information on Jessica’s House or for additional resources, please go to jessicashouse.org 

Transcript

Supporting Children Through Grief Together

Gary Shriver 0:00

Hello and welcome to when Grief Comes Home, a podcast dedicated to parents living through loss while supporting their child. Let's meet the team.

Erin Nelson 0:11

I'm Erin Nelson, founding executive director at Jessica's House.

Colleen Montague 0:15

Hi, I'm Colleen Montague, program director for Jessica's House and a licensed marriage and family therapist.

Brad Quillen 0:21

Hi, I'm Brad Quillen and I'm the host of When Grief Comes Home.

Gary Shriver 0:25

This podcast goes along with a book of the same name. The book When Grief Comes Home is a gentle guide for parents who are grieving a partner or child, while helping their children through the loss of their parent or sibling. When Grief Comes Home is now available at all major book retailers. Now let's go to the team, as they share grief resources and coping skills, heartfelt stories and insights to support parents as they raise children who are grieving. Together, you'll find strength as we learn to live with loss and find ways to heal.

Brad Quillen 1:01

Hello, hello, it's Brad from Jessica's House. Today on the podcast, we're going to be talking about ways to support your child after the death of their parent. The majority of the families that come to Jessica's House have experienced the death of a parent. Today, we'll share with you some of those ideas and lessons we've learned over the years. Hey, Erin, Colleen, we are back talking about supporting your child after the death of a parent. Last segment or last podcast, we talked about when there's been a death of a spouse or a partner, and that kind of goes along with what we're talking about today, because now we have kids that we're supporting at home and so, as we think of some of those things that happen a lot of the times we hear at Jessica's House because that's our biggest population, are kids that have lost a parent that attend Jessica's House, we hear a couple of things, and one of the first ones we hear is security that kids don't feel as safe. That the world's not as safe after their parent dies. And the second thing we're going to get to a little later in the podcast are some of the behaviors that come because of the grief and just the acting out. But Erin, would you mind sharing a little bit about after when Tyler died, just some of those safety and security things that you felt and realized even with your own kiddos?

Erin Nelson 2:10

I noticed that after Tyler died, we all felt just a compromised kind of feeling of safety in the world and it was the first loss that I had ever had and my kids were really feeling that as well and just the insecurities, I think, just the security of having two parents in the home and kind of rhythms and routines that we had, and then not having him in the home and how he was a source of comfort for them and a source of security, and now, without his physical presence anymore, there was just this sense of insecurity. Even in child care, if I would leave, at times he was there, and so I noticed a lot more separation anxiety with the kids when I would leave, with the kids when I would leave, and so I just think that there was such a compromised feeling of security and just that overall sense that something was missing.

Guiding Children Through Grief Conversations

Brad Quillen 3:12

And I think we feel that, boy, this is a problem. But I don't think it is a problem, I think it's more natural, because they were there yesterday, but today they're gone right and that physical presence is no longer. And you also, your kids, were five and three when Tyler yesterday, but when your mom died, your sister immediately came to move in and live with you because that's who she was living with. And there's even a security issue with teenagers that we see here at the house.

Erin Nelson 3:39

Yeah, and when my mom died, you know, my sister lost that comforter that she had, that close relationship that she had with my mom, and even though I was her sister, there was nothing I could do to replace a mom. A mom is just such a foundational relationship and one that's really important in a child's life, and so being able to just understand that I can only show up as myself, like whether that's a sister or a mom, I'm not a dad and I could never replace what they had lost. And as I was even grieving in myself and I was processing all the losses, I was aware of their need for kind of reconnection in some ways, because they had lost such big connections in their life with either a dad or a mom. And so it was just such an important time, and something that I noticed helped them was just time together and just sitting with them and just trying to stay as close as we could, and even if it meant that you know, the kids that first year just slept right next to me and we just had a lot of time together and we tried to just stay as stable as possible.

Brad Quillen 5:00

Your sister and I led groups years and years ago, over a decade together, and I'll never forget we were in our mid thirties probably, when we were leading groups together and she said to me one time in group, before kids had gotten to the house that night you know, Brad, the older I get, the more I realize I need my mom and my dad, and so there's just that truth. Like, even as we age, we still need mom and dad.

Erin Nelson 5:22

Yeah, it's a relationship that's so important and we miss them for the rest of our lives.

Brad Quillen 5:28

Yeah, it's forever.

Erin Nelson 5:29

It's forever.

Brad Quillen 5:29

Because they're always mom, they're always dad. That's one of the things we say here at Jessica's House that the life may have ended, the relationship goes forever yeah.

Colleen Montague 5:38

Yeah.

Brad Quillen 5:39

Hey and Colleen, we've been talking about control a little bit and one of the things that adults find hard that's kind of in our control as adults or parents in these realities is telling the children in our lives about how someone may have died or just some of the truth around the scenarios. What are some of those ways that we can help give our kids that information?

Colleen Montague 6:08

During a time where they've lost so much control, their safety bubble in the world has been popped and, of course, things that used to feel promised to them are no more the idea that they'll always have that parent there and so of course, they're going to worry about the possibility, the real possibility, that they could lose you too, or they could lose somebody else in their life, and it's hard to feel so out of control, and you may be feeling like that too as a parent. I really liked what you said, Brad. You said it's not a problem that they feel this way or that they're reacting this way, because these are all natural responses to grief.

Brad Quillen 6:47

It's the reality.

Colleen Montague 6:48

Yeah it's a reaction to grief, and so they're really on track. You know that is not so much of a surprise, and so one of the things that you can do right now is be that source of truth for them with the questions they may have. And it starts like with what you said, Erin, of just being available and over-connecting with them right now, checking in with how they're doing with what questions they have, answering those questions, the best that you can. One that we hear a lot with kids is that fear that you might die too. You know they may lose their other parent, and so just responding to that with as much truth as you can, you know, so to tell them you know what are you doing to try and keep yourself healthy or safe, to try to prevent something like that from happening again.

Erin Nelson 7:38

I think this really builds on some of what we've talked about, which is telling the truth a lot of times, even about how the person died and what happened when the person died, and helping them really look to you as that person who they can trust will tell them the truth. And a lot of times, just to make those conversations easier, you can do that by facilitating that you really want to know, that you're really curious about their questions and asking them, continuing to check in with them to say, well, what questions do you have about what happened to dad or mom? And to lay that foundation, because you know, sometimes they just may be naturally hesitant, because whenever someone's in pain we kind of protect each other. It's just a natural part of even having relationships and in a family in grief and so being able to check in. Something that we've talked about here at Jessica's House is the word solar as an acronym. It's like sitting down with your child, just opening up your posture, leaning in, making eye contact and then relaxing your body, and we've done even just breathwork to you know for us as parents when are supporting our child who's grieving, being able to somehow calm our own nervous system and find that calm by taking a deep breath in and just letting your exhale be longer than your inhale before you have these conversations, as you're talking to your child and letting them know how much you want to hear from them and that there's any question at all, anything that they want to ask, that you're here for it.

Brad Quillen 9:26

And I'm going to ask you this, there will be questions sometimes that you get asked and I want you to talk about this for a second, Erin, I don't know, but before you do that I want to say if you're listening today and you're trying to figure out how do I tell my kid, I just want you to know there's a number of resources at jessicashouse. org under our resource tab to where you can find ways and helps and how to share that information with your child. But, Erin, it's okay to say I don't know to some of their questions because you might not honestly know all the details.

Erin Nelson 9:59

You might not know all the details. Sometimes you learn details later. I mean there are some reports that come out later even from the coroner they take time and you may not have all the answers, but you can say like when I find out, I want to share it with you and being able to share more details along the way, and just again you're sitting down with them again. This is a process that continues as you just talk to your child about the truth.

Colleen Montague 10:30

And I would also caution that we have to do it in a language that meets the developmental level they're in. And so we're going to talk to a three-year-old about how their parent died a lot differently than we would talk to a 13-year-old, and so there's a lot that a six year old, for example, can't understand or that's too much to hold for their mind, but we could use that language to our 16 year old, and so just you know, putting that in there too is important.

Brad Quillen 10:59

So to both of you, I can imagine someone's listening right now after we just talked about solar, which we teach here and I believe in, and trying to be calm, to sit down to tell our kids or child what's happened and have conversation in a calm manner, but they're saying I can't keep it together. How in the world do I sit and try and hold it together to answer their questions, when every time I think about it, even in the midst of listening to this podcast, I'm crying as I listen?

Colleen Montague 11:28

Yeah, you might not be in a spot. We never know when our kids are ready for us and when they are ready for those conversations, how we're actually going to be doing. And check in with yourself first before you answer. If you're not in a good head space where you feel like you can have a conversation with them in a way that is helpful to both. Ask them for a pause.

Addressing Children's Grief and Emotions

Erin Nelson 11:48

Yeah, and it's okay to cry through it. When you're crying, you're modeling that for your child and so being able to express as you feel it, you know and as you go along and just taking a moment to just say you know, right now just feel like crying and it's okay to cry, we are going to sometimes just be sad. And being able to express that, what is it authentically inside of you? And when your actual face matches what's going on inside? Kids really know what's going on inside of an adult. They're so keen at kind of feeling something. And when we're not being authentic, and I would say that when you know, as you are calming your own nervous system, you're bringing more of an authentic calm to that. But you're also you might be sad, and when everything matches, your inside matches what you're showing and it just can breed even more trust.

Brad Quillen 12:56

I'm so glad you talked about crying in front of our kids, because so many times in group I will hear a parent say you know, I don't want to cry in front of my kids. And then when I used to do kid groups, I'd hear the same thing where teens would say I don't want to cry with grandma or my you know, grandma's taking, raising us now because mom died. And or you know, I don't want to talk about dad in front of my mom and all these things and I just came up with and I've mentioned this in the previous podcasts, but we don't want to pass our sadness to someone we're talking about. I call it the transference of sad. I don't know if that's really a term or even proper, but kids didn't want to give sadness to mom or mom didn't want to because I'm crying in front of my kids, make them sad. But I think it's great that you just mentioned that this is how I feel and this is what it makes my body do when I think of mom or dad now that they've died.

Colleen Montague 13:38

And doesn't it just offer permission to your child that it's okay to have these big feelings, and you have them too, and we're going to sit through them together. It's okay for me to feel whatever is going on inside

Brad Quillen 13:51

We have big feelings as the adults too, as the parents.

Colleen Montague 13:55

You know, our own big feelings can be scary for us too, you know, let alone for our child. And sometimes our child's big feelings are scary for us. You know, going back again, Brad, to what you said, I liked it so much. Those behaviors are not problematic. They're not problems. That is just grief expression. That's how they're doing, and so, not being afraid of those big feelings that they're showing you or that you're feeling yourself.

Brad Quillen 14:22

Behaviors are just another way of communicating right?

Colleen Montague 14:25

Yeah, and that true expression of those feelings and moving those out of our body. You know, that's how we can work towards healing.

Erin Nelson 14:40

Something that I'm thinking about that brings up feelings and worries for kids that they may not be able to express, but it's on their mind a lot, but a lot of times they don't know how to bring it up to their parent is the question who will take care of me if something happens to you? And I know, Colleen, you talked a little bit about creating safety, and so something that's on the mind of children, and they may not know how to bring it up to their parent, is the question who will take care of me if something happens to you? So as you talk to your child, you may even need to prompt them like, hey, I'm kind of wondering what you're wondering. You know, sometimes after something like this happens, kids may wonder like, who'll take care of me if something happens to my mom or dad? And so, bringing that up, I was working with a child in group who had it completely planned because she had pets and she knew that she was going to live with her grandparents if something happened to her mom. But she was very worried because her dogs didn't get along with her grandparents' dogs and just thinking that she had already thought about that, and so there might be some additional questions your child has. So letting them know who will take care of them and kind of what the plan is where they'll live.

Colleen Montague 16:01

You might be worried that you're planting a seed or an idea, but the reality is is they are already worried about it.

Erin Nelson 16:08

They're already worried about it, so being able to ask those questions ahead of time. Another question they may ask is will the same thing that happened to my parent happen to someone else I love, like my other parent or someone else, or even to me?

Brad Quillen 16:26

Who's next?

Erin Nelson 16:27

Who is next? And so as we think about that, we can say that that's a normal fear, and to normalize that and maybe you're the one bringing it up and to say to get that question out there, and then when you do that, you can kind of talk a little bit about what you're doing to keep yourself healthy and safe. Something that we always talk about at Jessica's House is it's always a good idea to take your child to the pediatrician after you know when they're grieving, and also go to the doctor yourself for a checkup, and then you can communicate that to your child. Hey, I went to the doctor for a checkup and I want to do everything I can do to keep myself healthy, and so then they can know, and then you can kind of have that conversation about the fears that they may have and also that we all might have, right? We have talked about this where a child might, you know, have something, the person died of a disease and maybe this particular part of their body is bothering them and they think, oh, maybe I have also that same disease. These are natural kinds of ways that we grieve, to work through some of those fears.

Colleen Montague 17:43

Some unspoken worries that kids also have that, I think, have really surprised adults at times, that their parents, is this fear that they may have caused the death in some way or attributed to it, and obviously that's not true. But they really can take ownership of something that they don't need to. You know, we had a boy once who was worried that he caused the death of his dad because they had an argument a few days before and the boy had yelled at his dad and he really thought he caused his dad to have a heart attack a few days later.

Erin Nelson 18:20

Yeah, so being able to say something like you know there's nothing you can say to make someone die, even if you had these thoughts like, oh, I'm just so mad at my dad or my mom, you know, being able to say to your child, even before they ask the question, there's nothing you could have done or could have said that could have caused that person to die or that could have kept them alive, and so being able to have that conversation is so important.

Brad Quillen 18:48

So these emotions are kind of floating and filling kiddos. Colleen, Erin, some of the kiddos that are having all these feelings don't even know how to label what they're feeling or give it a word, like when your husband died, when Tyler died, your kids were five and three, and so for them to be able to label what they're feeling is much harder than for us adults. But there's teens that are listening, that has teens and they're trying to help them label what's going on inside. So how do we do that as parents, even as we're grieving, there's a lot of emotions flowing around in us. But how do we help our kids label what's on the inside?

Colleen Montague 19:24

For the younger kids, I think there's so many good books out there for them to read or you to read to them. It's a great way to put themselves into a story. It's a little safer even when they're reading about a rabbit and how they're feeling so angry, and it prompts such great conversation just through reading books. So that's a great place that I would recommend starting with and then, after you read the story, it's a good way to just segue like have you ever felt that way? When did you feel like that?

Erin Nelson 19:57

Yeah, another tool that we've used at Jessica's House and this is also available in the book When Grief Co mes Home is a feelings wheel, and so it's at the end of the book, and so sometimes you can just reference that to see all kinds of words and to see what might describe how they feel. And you know, and if whatever they're feeling like, if sad was a color like, what would what would that color be? And if you could move in that way, what would your movement be? So, as they identify their feelings, they can really move it out of their body by even sensory ways, and there are a lot of ideas in the book about how to have these activities and these sensory based therapeutic activities to move the grief out of their body.

Colleen Montague 20:41

And with younger kids, but also teens, what you could do for them is reflecting back what they're telling you, and that is through language and body language, Erin talked about that already. But just even just reflecting back in their words, it might be the first time they've ever said it out loud, and so you reflecting that back yeah, you're really mad that dad died. Yeah, you're really scared that something might happen to me too. It's the first time they may have said it, and you saying it back to them is hearing it again and also helping put some language to what they're going through.

Erin Nelson 21:14

Yeah, and our listeners can't really see you, Colleen, but when you're talking about this, you're having this body language that mirrors kind of an angry stance. If your teens are mad, you can mirror their body language and you can mirror their words and their voice inflection and being able to match energy and we talk a lot about that at Jessica's House is that with your child, watching their body language, their tone of voice and really matching that can help them feel even more understood and there's so much more resonance in that when a parent is leaning into that and wanting to understand.

Brad Quillen 21:54

As you're talking about kiddos, there's some parents that are listening, I'm sure, that have two, three, four, five, six kids and they all grieve differently, and so I'm going to give you a second to think about that, because we're going to take a break here in a moment. When we come back, we're going to talk about some of the resources, and when do we get out, when do we look for resources, that we need extra help? But what do you say to those parents that have kids that are grieving differently, and one of them might have been expressive, but now it's so quiet, and then the quiet one is now loud and even aggressive, what do you say?

Colleen Montague 22:26

I think that before your person died, your kids were all different. They were already different, you already probably had to parent each one a little differently. Yeah, each of our kids need something a little different from us as a parent, and so you may have already been tailoring your responses with them and interactions a bit, and so that's just going to continue now in grief, and you never know how they're going to be doing or what you know. Like you you said, Brad, the one that was really communicative may kind of withdraw a little bit, and vice versa, and so just knowing that you're going to need to meet them where they are and that might look different, and it's easier said than. done

Erin Nelson 23:08

Yeah and I think if you are noticing any marked behavior change in your child that is more than just getting a little bit quieter, a little bit louder child, that is more than just getting a little bit quieter, a little bit louder you could always check in with your pediatrician, a family counselor, and you're noticing, you know, marked changes in their sleeping and their eating. It's never bad to get extra support and just kind of make sure that this isn't anything that's more long-term and that you can give them the additional support that they might need.

Brad Quillen 23:42

And we're going to go ahead and head to a break, but when we come back we're going to talk about what are some of those outside resources that you can find for support for you and your family.

Gary Shriver 23:51

Jessica's House is a children's bereavement center located in California's Central Valley since 2012. We provide free peer support for children, teens, young adults and their families grieving a loss. The When Grief Comes Home podcast goes along with the book of the same name. The book When Grief Comes Home is a gentle guide for parents who are grieving a partner or child while helping their children through the loss of their parent or sibling. When Grief Comes Home is now available at all major book retailers and if you need grief-related support, please visit jessicashouse. org to download our free resources and be sure to follow Jessica's House on social media. If you have any questions or topics that you'd like us to explore in a future episode, just send us an email to info@ jessicashouse. org.

Brad Quillen 24:43

Well, hey, welcome back and we ended with talking about when is it time to get outside help. Aaron shared a little bit about pediatricians or possibly even counsel or some of those things, but when is it time for us to reach out and find outside support? And so we're going to come back and just talk a little bit about that. Erin, when should a parent start thinking we need a little extra support? And that could be group support, could be counseling, even reaching out to schools and all those things, as kids go back into school after a death. How do we, how do we handle that?

Erin Nelson 25:12

Yeah, I like the idea of layering support and I think, like with Jessica's House, and if you do have some group support in your area for children who are grieving, I would just want to also say you can go to the National Alliance for Children's Grief and they have a database for all over the United States, maybe even globally, about different grief centers, and so that's a really good place to start for the ongoing support and that's just that grief support of knowing you're not alone, of finding coping skills. So that's just really broad and really good for everyone. And it's never bad to just lay your support if you can. And you know with counseling and you know some of what we talked about. If you're feeling like you are wondering about extra support, then it's always good to just reach out for support with a counselor or with your pediatrician. And if you are noticing changes like we mentioned, with your child's eating, or sleeping, or behaviors, withdrawing academically, decreasing in their grades, not being able to concentrate, some of those really marked differences in friendships, things like that. It's never bad to just reach out for extra support and a counselor.

Colleen Montague 26:30

Yeah, and one great support system at the ready is your child's school. There are so many resources provided through the school districts at times and their campuses. Maybe they have a counselor on site or some type of support. And so one of the first things you should do is communicate to the teacher about the loss that your family has experienced and I think I've said it here before just always communicate it every beginning of the school year for the rest of your child's education. But you know, let them know how your kid's doing at home. They're going to be able to see how your kid is doing at school, communicate back with you and set up some plans with them. Some ideas that parents have shared with us over the years are can your child do a midday phone call to you from the classroom or the office, maybe at lunch? It's really hard to be separated from their parent for a whole school day. It's a long time to be away from their safety system, so to speak, and so could they call you at lunch or at least know they have the option if they need it. . It's they're having a particularly hard day or hard moments, can they put a post-it note on their desk to communicate to the teacher that they're having a hard time and they might need space, or they may need to go outside and go for a walk or check in with their school counselor. And on your end, something you can offer to your child before parting ways for the day is to ask if they'd like to draw a heart on your hand and if you can draw a heart on theirs and explain to them that every time you look at that heart throughout the day, you're going to think of them and send them some good luck or a prayer their way and same in return, to know that when the child looks at their hand and sees your heart drawn, that they know you're thinking of them. And I don't think your teenager is probably going to go for that. So could you text your teen, have like a mutual emoji you send to each other just to communicate a little hello, I'm thinking of you throughout the day.

Brad Quillen 28:31

, you mentioned NACG, which is the National Alliance for Children's Grief, and their website is nacg. org. But there's also GriefShare, there's hospice in all a lot of communities around our country. What are some of those other outside resources, and maybe away from the school or the counseling thing, but just kind of the things that are around us that we might be able to tap into for help when we experience the death?

Erin Nelson 28:54

Well, Brad, I think some of what is naturally around parents that you know, just the thinking about neighbors and friends and extended family and we've heard stories from parents that just talk about the auntie you know that just loves to take their kids to a movie, or a neighbor that really enjoys soccer, and maybe that's something that that parent did with the child. And so looking around to people that can fill roles that your child is missing and just looking out to just natural connections that you have in the community can really help.

Colleen Montague 29:36

Because you can't be all the things to all of the people. That is not what you were built to do, and so I like what you're saying so Erin, of who else is around you, who is already asking to help, already wants to help in some way that can come alongside you or your kids in a way that you can't do.

Erin Nelson 29:57

Yeah, I was also just thinking about just you know, something that was so helpful for me and something that we've learned with our families as sports teams, churches, just having you know, just church, like Sunday school and midweek kinds of support and feeling that part of that community. There's a lot of research around when children feel part of something. It could even be something so simple as identifying with a school mascot and school spirit. Children do much better when they have a strong identity, and sometimes that does come through church, it comes through their school and it can come through a sports team, and so anything that they can do to increase their identity of belonging can really help them with their outcomes long-term.

Brad Quillen 30:50

And, Colleen, you said, there's people that are offering and there are. We just sometimes forget who they are. But people offer to give rides and help do this and that because we can be everything or be everywhere.

Colleen Montague 31:02

Yeah, and you, you won't know all the ways that you need support right when the death has happened, and so it's okay to say to someone offering to help you know, I don't know yet what I need, but I'll let you know. And so it could be months later and you know, and and maybe now the seasons change and let's say it's spring and you're noticing that maybe that neighbor could come alongside and play you know, catch outside with your child, for example and so you might learn in time what it is that you need and how those people could support you in those unique ways.

Brad Quillen 31:37

And it's a lot of why, Erin, you started Jessica's House is because when Tyler died there wasn't a whole lot out there in our community and we wanted people to know that they wouldn't be alone when they grieved.

Erin Nelson 31:48

It's so nice to know you're not alone and to have other people, and when you don't feel alone, you feel so much stronger just to hold the loss with other people. So sometimes you're just reaching out in your community through. It could even be online groups, it could be neighbor support or just whatever it is that you can do. It could be neighbor support or just whatever it is that you can do. I think, like even in my own life, reading books from other people that had experienced a loss can really help and just want to share. Just even with our book that is out now it's called When Grief Comes Home, same as the podcast, but we're sharing a lot of personal stories from other parents where you might be able to hear yourself in that story and just knowing that you're not alone.

Brad Quillen 32:35

You're not alone, Erin, Colleen, it's always so good to be with you guys and record, but for those of you listening, if there's anything we can do to help you, you can always reach out to us at jessicashouse. org for more resources, or you could even email us at info@ jessicashouse. org for questions or even future topics for the podcast. Be sure to join us next time for when Grief Comes Home. Until then, we wish you well.

Gary Shriver 32:59

Jessica's House is a children's bereavement center located in California's Central Valley since 2012. We provide free peer support for children, teens, young adults and their families grieving a loss. The When Grief Comes Home podcast goes along with the book of the same name. The book When Grief Comes Home is a gentle guide for parents who are grieving a partner or child while helping their children through the loss of their parent or sibling. When Grief Comes Home is now available at all major book retailers and if you need grief-related support, please visit jessicashouse. org to download our free resources and be sure to follow Jessica's House on social media. If you have any questions or topics that you'd like us to explore in a future episode, just send us an email to info@ jessicashouse. org. Thank you for joining us and we'll see you next time for When Grief Comes Home.