Supporting Youth in Grief & Trauma

As a youth worker, you will be called upon to adopt many roles and your responsibilities to the youth you serve will be varied. Naturally, you will feel different levels of comfort with the roles and responsibilities assigned to you. One of the most emotionally challenging functions most youth workers face will be supporting youth through their experience of grief or trauma. Grief and trauma is essentially about coping with and managing the psychological impact of loss. The experience of loss is a fundamental part of the human condition and a phenomena that all of us must face in our lives. In this course you will learn about the many reasons why trauma and grief are particularly difficult for youth. You will learn about the devastating impact these experiences can have on their emotional, physical and social wellbeing and you will gain in-depth knowledge about how youth can learn to cope and recover. This knowledge is crucial to your ability to serve youth through these crisis experiences. Notwithstanding, one of your crucial learning points will be that an imperative aspect of caring for others  is knowing how to care for yourself. In this course you will learnthree important aspects of helping youth through experiences of trauma and grief; assessing the needs of youth who are facing these challenges, assessing your ability as a youth worker to provide high quality, professional service and learning when, how and to whom to make referrals.