Supporting Your Child After the Loss of their Sibling

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. 

In this episode, Erin, Colleen, and Brad discuss how a parent can support their child as they grieve the loss of their sibling. Parents are encouraged to hold honest conversations as their child or children begin to have questions and worries about death. We also guide parents to hold space for their child's emotions and normalize their fears.

This episode encourages parents to keep the memory of the sibling alive through linking objects or bookmaking to alleviate the fear of forgetting them. The importance of intentional time is also emphasized as we share about the value of one-one time with each child after the death.

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

Transcript

Supporting Children Through Sibling Loss

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 we're talking about sibling loss and how to support your child. You are caught between two worlds. Your thoughts are with your child who died, but also the attempt to be present with your children. Erin, Colleen, it's good to see you both today and we're going to jump in and start talking about supporting children after they've had a death of one of their siblings. And most of those listening today understand a little bit about your story, Erin, that your son Carter has died, and there are things that we talk about at Jessica's house called linking objects that your family still uses as they remember him and kind of keeps them connected. As we start talking about siblings, would you mind sharing a little bit about what linking objects are and kind of how you guys use those in your own family?

Erin Nelson 1:46

Yeah, so linking objects. You know, when someone dies you just want to be connected to them in some way and you want to have something that connects you to them. And a linking object is usually something that belonged to the person who died and something that you can still have with you. And one thing that Carter was known for is wearing his flannel shirts, and so he had all his favorites and so after he died, we all kind of got one of his flannels and we would just wear them. I know my daughter now, will continue to wear his flannel, kind of as a little jacket, and she also has like a little flannel shirt kind of ornament that's in her car that she just keeps there to remember Carter. And so, yeah, just those connections that we want to keep alive and just something tangible that we can hold in our hand that reminds us of our person.

Brad Quillen 2:45

Yeah, I think a lot of us have linking objects. I have a wedding ring of my grandfather's that I wear, but we all have something from friends and family that kind of keep us grounded to reminding ourselves of who has died before us.

Erin Nelson 2:57

Yeah.

Brad Quillen 2:58

And one of the things that we have talked about in previous episodes in communication is just that truth factor, Colleen, and wanting to be honest and transparent about how, or answers to some of the questions that kids have about their brother or sister that's died and that might be hard for some parents to hear, and we've also talked about the reality of some of the answers are. I don't know right now. And so would you mind just reminding those parents that are listening, those moms and dads, about the importance of truth but also just that transparency piece too.

Colleen Montague 3:30

The difficulty of experiencing such a devastating loss and then now you also have to deliver that news to your other children is so hard and, like we've said before, is also so important to be with your child and to share the news and to just give them honest, clear answers, according to you know what they're able to understand based on their age, and you know the appropriateness of the details you share. But it is so important that they know that you'll tell them the truth and that they can come to you with questions that they have. And just like you said, Brad, you may not have all the answers yet and those come in time, and so you can be honest and just say I don't know that yet, but I'll let you know when I find out. But there's so much miscommunication that can happen after someone dies, and so if you can meet with your child as soon as you're able and start that conversation with them, that is a really good way to just kind of hold them as they enter into this space with you of this reality that their sibling has died and really this conversation is going to continue for the rest of their life as they grow and their understanding of loss deepens and matures. You'll still be talking about this with them in a different way or shape, but it is a conversation that will continue.

Brad Quillen 4:57

And I think we as adults and as parents and some are listening think that they're going to get a barrage of questions about some of the circumstances or how or you know, the disease or the accident, all those things. But it's usually not a barrage of questions, usually it's one or two, Erin, that the kiddos will come with you.

Erin Nelson 5:15

We notice that kids go and they as questions come up, if they, you know, they can ask them to their parents, and then a lot of times they go off and it could be several days or even weeks. Months might go by and they have more questions and whatever we can do as parents to be that trusted resource for them, that we will, as parents, tell them the truth and that they can always come to us with anything that they're wondering, and sometimes we can even start that question with like I'm wondering what you're wondering. And to open up those conversations, we talk sometimes here at Jessica's house about this acronym called SOLAR and it really is just like creating safety for someone to say whatever is on their mind, and so it's just simply like just sitting down, opening up your body posture, leaning in, having eye contact, and really relaxing, and whatever we can do as a parent. We act as a container for our child's emotions and what that means is that as we learn ways to really calm our own nervous system, then we can help co-regulate and calm our child's nervous system, and sometimes we need a moment, and that's okay, as our child's asking us questions, and if we're just kind of more activated and we don't feel that calm presence that we want to be for our child, maybe we just need a second. We need to go outside in nature and just take some deep breaths and come back and it's okay to even communicate that to your child, to say hey, I just need a second to just take a deep breath.

Brad Quillen 7:02

And there's a word that we hear at Jessica's House, and it's this idea of the somatic that we feel that in our body when someone's died.

Erin Nelson 7:11

We talk so much about somatic, which really just means body, and how grief is really energy in our body and how when we feel that energy in our body and that grief in our body, it's just giving, it's an indication that it needs to be expressed in some way so we can communicate to our kids. And sometimes they need to go play, like use really big muscles and big energy and go outside and play, and other times crying helps relieve that and other times it just could be expression through art or music. So there are all kinds of ways that kids can express.

Colleen Montague 7:48

And when you have those first conversations, we've talked about being a student of your child their response to this news is something we can't predict, and so you may assume there will be big tears and protests, and maybe there isn't. Maybe your child needs a minute to process it. Maybe they won't even have a big response for you right away, but that also doesn't mean they're okay or that there's something wrong with them for not having a response. Just trusting the timing of each of your children's different responses to this news it will be another thing to keep in mind.

Erin Nelson 8:29

I think what we hear here at Jessica's House is that kids can feel a lot of shame when they can't cry. And you know, maybe other people in the family are crying and then they are feeling like I want to cry but I just actually can't cry and that can be a very common response. And, like you said, Colleen, you know each child will have a different way of grieving and a different reaction and so, whatever that reaction is, sometimes people grieve the way they live, you know, and if your child's just naturally not as demonstrative in their emotions, you may notice that that's just them and being able to notice that and honor each person's way of grieving in the family.

Brad Quillen 9:14

Yeah, and there's something unique about each of the relationships between siblings, and so this child might grieve a little differently when their brother died than the other sibling, and so it's just interesting that they have different shared experiences with the sibling that's died.

Erin Nelson 9:30

Yeah, they have a totally different relationship. So in a family, when someone dies, that relationship is different with one sibling than it is with the other, right, and so it's just. There are always different dynamics and different roles that that sibling played in each one of their lives, and so we notice that, as they have different roles, that maybe the one that was the middle child is now the baby in the family, and so it's just so different because they may be missing their older brother and the one that modeled things for them and taught them something, and so, yeah, it can be just all all kinds of complex dynamics.

Brad Quillen 10:12

Because they might've shared a room together, but then the other sibling didn't. There's inside jokes that we all have a little different, with different people in our lives and different competitions and things that irk us about people differently. But one of those things that we were talking about a little bit ago in a previous podcast was having a script for when someone asks us, and so a couple of weeks ago we were talking about parents having a script and being able to answer that question of how many kids do you have? How do we help our kids have a script and be ready for when someone at school or on a sports team or at church asks how many brothers and sisters do you have? And unfortunately they've had one that's died.

Colleen Montague 10:48

I love this idea of prepping them ahead of time that people are going to ask you for the rest of your life hey, how many siblings do you have, how many brothers and sisters do you have? And really giving them permission to lead those conversations the way they feel best in that moment. And so just to acknowledge to them sometimes you might want to bring it up and say, well, I have one brother who's alive and I have one sister who died, and knowing that the person that they say that to might ask more questions and, you know, do they feel ready to answer those, or teaching them that it's okay if they don't want to answer it, it's not a conversation they feel comfortable having, and so they can just say I have one brother and it doesn't make them bad, it's not disrespectful to their sister, it's just how they need to take care of themselves in that moment, and that's always changing.

Brad Quillen 11:39

And I think there's even a great teaching point that you've talked about before of sharing that news and then being expectant for change in the conversation or the awkwardness to happen that someone's caught off guard, that you've had a brother or sister that's died, like how do you help them have a script for that?

Colleen Montague 11:57

Yeah, I think just telling them they may not be able to understand what that's like and they may not know how to respond to you and it's not because there's anything wrong with you or the fact that your sister has died. It's something that they haven't experienced, and so they don't know what to say, and so prepping them that that could be the response they get might make it feel a little less scary or awkward if that's what happens, and then telling them but you might end up telling somebody who does want to talk about it and does ask you questions. And so then, if that happens, what do you want to tell them about your sister and, thinking about that ahead of time, what they would want to share about their sister?

Brad Quillen 12:37

Yeah, what's the one thing you'd want them to know? Or how would you introduce your sister to the person that asks?

Colleen Montague 12:42

Yeah, because really we want to encourage them to keep talking about their sibling for the rest of their lives. If they want to do that, we encourage our kids here at Jessica's House to do that. That person will always be a part of their story in their life. Really, a sibling was their first companion in life that they've lost, and so they're going to grieve that forever. But how can we help, support them in continuing the memory?

Brad Quillen 13:09

And as you talk about that, as we talk about supporting your child after the loss of their sibling Erin, we talk about that you're going to grieve forever, that you're going to miss them forever, and there's events that are coming down the road, that siblings are to be there for each other and how do we address that with kiddos and prep them for down the road? It might not be in the next few weeks or months, but I mean these are the milestone events in one's lives.

Erin Nelson 13:32

Yeah, to not have someone, you know, to have someone missing from all the milestones and it's always in the room, right, that person. It's like the loudest voice in the room that the person is missing from every birthday, from graduations to celebrations and all of that. And to really acknowledge that, to maybe even find a way to remember them, even in our family, right now we have a really important family wedding coming up and we're thinking of ways to remember Carter and there will be an empty chair, and so we're talking about that and how we want to honor him, and so we're thinking about that ahead of time as a family, and so just being able to keep that open and always going to the kids for their ideas you know kids have the best ideas, right and so going to them and asking them how do you want to remember them this Christmas, or how do you want to remember them on your birthday, Asking them questions like what do you think they would have thought about that birthday present you got?

Erin Nelson 14:35

And you know those are conversations that we have here at Jessica's House. In fact, I just had one last week about, you know, what would they think about, because one of them just went to Disneyland, a child in my group and I said well, what ride would they have enjoyed the most? And so they were talking about this particular roller coaster and how their sibling would have reacted on it, and so even being able to say like if you could have, you know, gone with them, if they could have joined you here, sometimes making up in imagination what you can't make in reality can really help, and so sometimes just keeping them alive in some way and keeping a connection means that you bring them into that present moment and just wonder what they would have wanted or how they may have reacted.

Brad Quillen 15:24

You were just talking about almost make-believe in some ways of giving kids control to create, and for some kids there was trauma involved in how their sibling died. And trying to give kids the choice and trying to how they want to remember them and involve them in future events. Hey, we're going to take a quick break and after that we're going to talk a little bit about the complexities that come along with sibling loss.

Gary Shriver 15:47

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 16:38

Hey, welcome back to segment two of supporting your child after loss of their sibling and Erin, we wanted to take a few minutes and just talk about some of the complexities that come with that reality, and one of those big complexities is emotions.

Navigating Survivor's Guilt and Regrets

Erin Nelson 16:53

I think what we hear so much after a sibling dies is we hear about fears, we hear about anxiety, something, especially if a sibling died from an illness, the other siblings may wonder you know, will I contract a similar illness? Or, if it was an accident, will I die also in an accident like this? And as a parent, you can communicate that it is natural, just like after someone dies, that we reflect on what we call it in adult language, like we're more aware of our mortality, but it's we are just more aware that people can die. Like sometimes you don't really think that's possible. But for a child after someone dies, especially someone so close, like a sibling, they become aware that people could die and they could possibly also die.

Erin Nelson 17:44

We've heard at Jessica's House, and especially I can think of a child who died of a brain tumor, and their sibling, when they would get a headache, would just think, oh, maybe I have a brain tumor too, I'm next. And to normalize that, to say it's just so normal to be thinking about how you could also die too, because this happened to you, and to say, you know, even as a parent like. Sometimes I get a pain and I also will wonder if something more serious going on, right.

Erin Nelson 18:17

And so just to normalize that and to say you know you think of things now that you never thought about before, because your safety bubble has been popped right in some ways and so you're opening up to these new realities that really hard and bad things happen in the world. It's like you wish you could just protect your children from all of that, but when it happens to your family, then you're faced with the complexities.

Brad Quillen 18:45

I know in the last episode in the podcast we talked a little bit about this, but someone might just be listening to this one episode and one of those big fears, angsts, is what if something happens to my parent that's alive, or another sibling like what? How fragile kids feel in all those moments.

Erin Nelson 19:03

I think the fragility is pretty deep and being able to communicate that you're doing everything that you can as their parent to take really good care of yourself you can always even get a checkup from your family doctor and communicate with your child that you're doing everything that you can to stay healthy, your child, that you're doing everything that you can to stay healthy and just anything that you can do to connect and bring safety and reassurance to your child can really help.

Brad Quillen 19:32

Hey, Colleen, you help out with a night here that is labeled sibling loss, and that's the reality of the group that happens at night or families that have had a death of a child, and one of those things that we'll hear at Jessica's House is sometimes survivor's guilt and how that plays a part into someone's grief process.

Colleen Montague 19:51

I'm really glad that you brought that up, Brad. That's so true. The reality of having survivor's guilt you know why did I get to live while they died and even just regrets about their actions, their past. You know things that they said. You kids just siblings naturally fight. You know they squabble over all of the things. But now they might really regret that and hold a lot of bad feelings towards themselves about it, like oh, why was I, I was such a bad brother or such a bad sister, which is not even true. But those natural regrets just seep in wherever there's a little opening.

Brad Quillen 20:30

Why didn't I help with their homework, or why didn't I say this or say that? You know like all those regrets come to surface.

Colleen Montague 20:37

Yeah, and I said that before, just naturally in life we hold regrets about relationships that we have with people, but then when somebody dies and they're gone, those regrets are just amplified. The finality of that and not being able to ever rectify that.

Erin Nelson 20:52

Kids can sometimes think that when they are seeing those things or maybe they're having these really bad thoughts about their sibling because, hey, siblings can be super annoying, right, that right, let's be honest. But you know, when they're having those those feelings and those thoughts, that they can even think that somehow they caused their sibling to die somehow and they can feel that guilt, and they, you know, as a parent, something that we can do is reassure them that there's there's nothing that you said, there are no thoughts that you thought that could ever make your sibling's body stop working right, there's nothing you could have said or thought that could keep them alive, right. And so there's just so much reassurance, just that consistent reassurance needed.

Colleen Montague 21:40

Something you might have to remind them of the other times they were a really good sibling to their brother or their sister. You know we can get hyper focused on the what ifs or the negatives, but you know you can reflect that back to them. You're feeling guilty about that time you guys were fighting over the toy and it fell and broke. But then you can shift the mindset to remind them of the good times that where they were a really good brother to them.

Brad Quillen 22:04

Let me ask you guys this, there's seasons where the emotions and the complexities and the fragility and all that seems like it's more and it's on the surface, and then there's seasons where it feels like it's a little lower with your kid or kiddos. How often should parents kind of be checking in and trying to just sit down and have conversation or maybe even doing some sort of board game or something with your hands, but with the reality of I want to have conversation and just check in with the kiddos?

Erin Nelson 22:31

Yeah, I think that's just, it's all the time right, it's just consistent, and when you talked about just the differences and you know they may have different emotions at different times I think it seems to me that one sibling or one child in your family at different times will need you more and just as that presents itself and as they come to you, with something just staying consistently connected and that can just be your physical presence. I love the idea of a board game, that so you're doing something while you're kind of having natural conversations. I've had parents tell me that their best conversations are in the car, just side by side and just continuing to have that physical presence. Even just knowing that after someone dies and after trauma, just physical touch and physical proximity and affection is very healing as well for everyone and it can really help. And so just keeping that consistent presence.

Colleen Montague 23:32

One thing that I like to try with my own kids is try to spend 10 minutes a day one-on-one with them, and it doesn't seem like a lot of time, but it's intentional time with them, and so can you give each of your children 10 minutes a day of uninterrupted one-on-one time, and if you've got three kids, that's 30 minutes, you know. Can you squeeze that out of your day and put the benefits of that of them knowing that they're going to get you and obviously don't set a timer in front of them but for them to know that they get that time with you every day is really important and it matters. It's something that they know that's a constant.

Erin Nelson 24:19

And sometimes those are just routines which we know it's one of those guidelines that we talk to parents about so much is just keeping routines as much as possible, and sometimes those bedtime routines, the morning routines, the chores that they're still responsible for, even though this happened in our family. These are very anchoring rhythms to just keep them going and sometimes you are naturally just spending time with them, even in those routines.

Brad Quillen 24:39

And I think the greatest thing you can give your children and all of this, and I agree, but as sometimes, grace for yourself, because there's only so much of you to go around and you're trying to take care, as a parent, of the kiddos and all the other responsibilities of life. But we need to give ourselves grace.

Erin Nelson 24:54

Yeah, and you can't do it all by yourself. So finding support, finding people just that are naturally around you neighbors and friends and extended family to help you with little things. And what if you weren't able to spend as much time as you wanted to? Maybe they could do something really special with your child. And we've heard stories about the uncles that are really fun and they want to pick the kids up and just take them and you know, just run around and you know, just go play soccer or whatever it is. So whatever you can do, as people ask you, like what can I do to help to say, hey, my kid, really they've always wanted to learn the guitar. Could you just pick them up on Thursday afternoons and spend some time with them and trust that your community can kind of fill in the gaps a little bit.

Colleen Montague 25:42

Because they want to jump in and help you in some way and it's so hard to know how to help a family who's grieving. But when you know there's those people out there that have said, let me know if there's something, anything I can do, then there's that open invitation right there and I love your idea, Erin, of just finding that little area where somebody else could jump in and help support you.

Brad Quillen 26:13

Hey, one of the complexities I think about with kiddos when they've had a death of a sibling is there's some emotions they never knew were even inside of them that have been brought out because of this death. And they've lost their roommate, their best buddy, you know, their partner in crime around the house right as they got into mischief together. But they're feeling things that they've never felt before and sometimes that can be the complexity of trying to help your kiddo or kiddos understand their feelings and even name it and put a title to it.

Colleen Montague 26:32

A place I like to start with that are children's books. There's so many good ones out there now talking about just so many different emotions, whether or not grief related you could do either, but that just allows a child to experience their world through the pages of a story and through a different character and it's safer to identify. It puts words to thoughts or feelings that they've been having and it just gets good conversation started. And Erin, you've said as an adult you've found comfort in reading books written by others who have experienced a similar loss and how that's helped you to feel seen and understood.

Erin Nelson 27:10

Yeah, I can think of so many books that have brought me comfort and hearing the stories of others, even though I don't really know them. But being able to hear their read their story and even after Carter died I read a book that was just so important to me and helped me feel so it really brought me comfort and I think about it a lot and I just think like whatever we can do to feel less alone and to just know we're not the only one. Sometimes that means online support groups, sometimes it means finding a grief center in your area or a counselor taking a walk with your friend every day.

Colleen Montague 27:46

So whatever we can do to just find some support that's consistent and when, your child shows you these big feelings, that they are maybe new to them as well. You get to be that container and getting yourself into a place where you feel regulated or you know calm, if you can, and just be there to hold that with them, because what you're communicating in that moment is what they're feeling actually heard is if these big feelings don't scare you, mom or dad, then they don't have to scare me either, and it just shows that it's okay, this is expected. These feelings, this is common. This happens when you're grieving and you're so mad or you're so scared.

Brad Quillen 28:28

And we were speaking of resources, and a great resource is the Jessica's House website that has a number of resources on there for families that have experienced the death of a child and quite a few things on our resource tab that you can find there. And, Erin, I know one of the questions we get often from parents or hear from kids is about pain, the sibling that's died, is do they feel pain anymore because they might have had a terminal illness or some life limiting abilities towards the end of life? But how do we address that here?

Erin Nelson 28:55

Yes, we talk about bodies when they stop working. Right, and sometimes children will have questions about that. And after we explain death to a child, we can just say you know, they're no longer breathing, they can no longer feel pain, they're not hungry or cold. Because the sibling might wonder, because this is somebody that was with you all the time, right, and you're wondering just in real time what is actually going on with them right now, in this moment, and so being able to explain what death is like is so important, and just to keep that conversation going.

Brad Quillen 29:30

Hey, as we wrap up the show today, we want to leave you with a healing practice, and that is the idea of memory bookmaking. Now, I know some of you hear that and you automatically think there's very few memories to give or memories to put in that book. So, Colleen, what do you say to those that are listening right now? That that popped into their head as soon as they heard me say memory bookmaking.

Colleen Montague 29:52

I think such a common concern that we hear from parents is just the fear that they're going to forget, and if they're worried about that, I can only imagine that the kids are too. Yeah, you know worried that they're going to forget what their brother's laugh sounded like or what their sister's smile looked like, and so coming alongside them and together creating a memory book with photos or stories or just drawn pictures. But the reason that you're doing this you can explain to them is that we don't want to forget, and so let's make this book together so that we can go back to it during times where we're worried we're forgetting. Now the reality could be that your other child or children were very young when their sibling died, and so maybe they don't have a lot of memories. But that doesn't stop you from this activity. That's where you get to share with them memories that you have, and even if it's, you know, memories of their older sibling interacting with them as a baby and what they liked to play like your brother loved to play peekaboo with you and including that in the book.

Colleen Montague 30:59

Another reality of your story could be that the child who died was perhaps a stillbirth. You know, maybe they weren't ever able to be born into this world, and so you don't have any memories with them, and your child doesn't have any memories with them beyond you being pregnant, which is a memory, and so they can talk about that, you can write about that or draw. But from there, what about writing the memories you wish you could have had with them, or what you thought it could have been like? So it doesn't have to be 100% accurate. It can also be those wishings of what you wish could have been.

Erin Nelson 31:40

Yeah, it is, as your children just make space for wishes and wonderings and as you, as a parent, just come alongside them. I just want to say that you know, as you are present to your children who have experienced the loss of their sibling, you don't really think that you'll ever heal just yourself as a parent, from this unimaginable loss, and also that you know you may wonder if your child will heal. And, just to know, just give yourself compassion as you're coming alongside them and as you're finding ways to heal together as a family, to know that you won't always feel the way you do right now, today.

Brad Quillen 32:14

Erin, and Colleen, it's always so enriching for me to be here and appreciate your time. Thank you to those of you listening. A reminder as we said before, there's a number of great resources for you at jessicashouse. org and if you have any questions or any needs that we can help with, reach out to us at info@ jessicashouse. org. Be sure to join us next time for another episode of When Grief Comes Home. Until then, we wish you well.

Gary Shriver 32:40

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.