"The death of a loved one brings on the impression of the sky falling in on you and that there is no way out."

— Jennifer, 17

Ideas for Teens

Now That Someone Has Died ...

When someone close to us dies, the feelings are different from anything else we know, unless we’ve already experienced a significant loss.

Some of the teens at the Caring Place have said that after someone you love dies, it feels like you’re in a dream. Others have said that it feels like you’re falling into a big crack that has opened up in front of you, and you don’t know how far you’re going to fall or what it will be like when you land. Other teens talk about going through an emotional hurricane or tsunami when a loved one has died.

These are all ways of describing grief. What they have in common is that grief is big, strange, surprising, or even downright weird. But grief is also absolutely normal.

When a person you love has died, you go through a door into a new world. No one asked you if you wanted to go in, but here you are. So what is this new world like? And how can you help yourself now that you’re here?

"There’s anger inside of you that you don’t know how to get rid of and you just let it pile up on top of itself, and the anger inside is one of the biggest things you get struck with. You can’t change it, you can’t do anything with it, you don’t know how to get it out. But you want to continue your life, you want to do what you need to do to be happy. And being angry all the time is not a way that you can go on for the next how many years." — Brittany, 16

Learn more about what you can expect as you continue to grieve:

• What Is Grief?
• What Is Lost? What Is Left? What Is Possible?
• Spirals of Grief
• Triggers of Grief

Learn about how you might take care of yourself:

• The Need for Support
• Help Yourself in Your Grief
• How the Caring Place Works