00:02Hewan and Henry have always loved playing games.
00:06I know! That's why I was being careful.
00:13It was one of their favourite ways to spend time with their mum, Annie.
00:17Board games and walking. And walks the gorge.
00:21But last year, after a hard fight against breast cancer, Annie died.
00:26At a defining point in time, and that's all the things that happened before.
00:30And he died, and that's everything that happens after.
00:34One in 20 people in Australia loses a parent before they turn 18.
00:39But finding ongoing, tailored supports for grieving children can be challenging.
00:45An Australian non-profit, which is now expanded to Tasmania, is trying to change that.
00:51Through multi- and single-day events, kids are given tools to express their grief,
00:56while meeting others around their age who can relate to them.
00:59Kids can be themselves. They're allowed to laugh.
01:02They have somebody else that, when they wake up, doesn't have a dad either.
01:07But they can talk about that.
01:09Psychologist Angela Green says that community is vital.
01:13When you go through grief, it's not just feeling sadness.
01:16It's a complete rewiring of your whole entire brain.
01:19We can give those kids those tools and those experiences that they're not alone,
01:24they have a sense of community, they're not weird, they belong.
01:27For Angela and her sons, it's been significant.
01:31It made me feel a mess, like I'm the only one going through this.
01:37The single biggest help for me in my grief is meeting other people who've experienced significant grief.
01:44I think it's the single biggest factor in the fact that we're all still standing and we're in one piece.
01:53Grief is a unique experience for everyone.
01:56But Angela says there are steps parents can take to keep lines of communication open with their children.
02:02She says that includes recognising that having a conversation, rather than the words being perfect, is the most important step.
02:09It's not the words.
02:11If you're coming at it with love and connection to your young person, then you're going to do fine.
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