Understanding Bereaved Parents and Siblings is based on lived experiences and provides insight, ideas, and inspiration on how to support the bereaved, how to talk to them about their experience, and how to help people manage their own shock or grief.

Part I of the book contains ten stories from parents and six from siblings sharing their experiences. Each narrator discusses their relationship with the person who died; what led up to the death; the impact of the loss on the speaker; as well as what helped and what hindered them in their grief. Part II is aimed at professionals and draws on various topics such as grief and bereavement models, transgenerational loss, resilience, protection, and creative ways of working with grief.

The book will be an essential read for the bereaved and the professionals, family, and friends who are supporting them.

Cathy McQuaid is a bereaved mother. She is also a researcher, psychotherapy supervisor, and trainer. She decided to use her skills to undertake a research project to help her understand her own grief and the responses and behaviours of those around her. This book is the outcome of that research.