The Invisible Backpack of Grief

In this guide to grief, creative therapy exercises frame emotions and experiences as objects filling an invisible backpack, helping children to visualise the weight of bereavement and build emotional resilience to cope. Guidance for adults helps them process their own feelings to avoid burnout while supporting bereaved children.

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We all carry an invisible backpack around on our journey. It contains our feelings, our hopes and dreams, our fears, our losses, and our grief. It contains our story. When the backpack gets too heavy with loss and grief, we struggle to cope.

This essential toolkit contains ways to help children cope with the weight of that backpack. Creative therapeutic exercises help children to express and understand their grief, allowing them to come to terms with their feelings and begin to heal. The book also contains support for adults as they guide children through their bereavement journey. Guidance for parents, teachers, and specialist professionals helps adults to check in on their own mental health and protect themselves from burnout.

The contents of our invisible backpack affect everything we do, from school and work to sleep and relationships. With this workbook, the weight of grief can be gradually lightened by helping children - and the adults who support them - to regulate their feelings and come to terms with their loss, allowing them to take steps towards a healthy future.