Australian Child & Adolescent Trauma, Loss & Grief Network (ANU)

As 2011 draws to a close and the holidays are approaching, ACATLGN would like to thank everyone for their support over the past year.

We at ACATLGN wish you well for this festive season and the coming year. While families are always complex, the connectedness with loved ones is one of the most important things that sustains us in life, and helps us to move through the ups and downs we all experience, with hope for the future. Christmas and the holiday period can be times of great joy, but for some, also times of great sadness. The sentiment that Christmas is a time for festivity and happiness can leave bereaved and traumatised children and young people feeling lost and alone.

Many children, young people and families will feel the loss of a loved one, a close friend, a family member. Some may have also experienced trauma with the floods and cyclones affecting Australia, and other disasters in the past year, both here and across the world. It is important to be sensitive to children's sense of grief and how they express this, to recognise such loss, and support children and young people through their feelings of sadness; as well as recognising the difficulties parents themselves face if they have been affected by such experiences.

It is also the time when family distress, and grief and trauma experiences can rise to the surface. The most important part of Christmas is to support children, to help them celebrate the positive, and comfort them in any distress. Parents themselves may also need to take some time out for their own needs for support and care.

The festive season may be a happy time for the bringing together of amily, friends and loved ones, but sad for what has been lost, for who is not there. Most importantly, however, it is a time for warmth, affection and mutual support, the things that see us all through tough times, and give us joy in the realities of our lives.

Warm regards,
Beverley Raphael
Chairperson
ACATLGN

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