Calendar of Events
Suggested Group(s): Young/Middle/Teen
Purpose: To recognize dates on the calendar that may bring grief to the front of the spiral and be challenging
Task/need: Living on the grief spiral, receiving continued support, approaching the pain of the loss
Activity Setup Ideas:
- Introduce the activity by discussing the significance of certain dates (birthdays, holidays, anniversaries of events, etc.) in the children’s lives, especially those related to their loss.
- Discuss how these days are different from others, and encourage group members to share their own thoughts and feelings about them.
Materials:
- Calendars for each month of the year (large desk size calendars work best)
- If calendar isn’t available, you can draw each month on the board or on large paper
Description: Once the topic has been introduced, ask each child to identify their own important dates, and note them on the calendars provided. Encourage discussion of rituals, feelings and experiences related to the different events on the calendar. Some questions you may want to ask are:
- How were these dates (holidays, birthdays) before the loss, and after?
- Have the feelings about these dates changed since the loss?
- What do you feel about anniversary dates, family members’ birthdays, etc.?
- What rituals/activities, if any, have you adopted to make the difficult dates easier?
- Are there dates that are difficult that you would not have expected to be difficult?
Activity Wrap Up Ideas:
- Ask the group members if they mind leaving the calendar in the group room. Ask how they might want to recognize the dates from the calendar that fall during the session to support each other.
