Why do we grieve? 
We humans are social creatures, born into and raised by families and surrounded by a social environment of friends and loved ones.  We rely on others and establish strong emotional bonds of love and affection with them.  It is these bonds that make us vulnerable.  When someone we love dies we suffer from the loss.  We grieve both our own loss and feel sorrow for the person who died. Grief and mourning is the process by which our minds heal.
Unfortunately the pain of grief is an everyday part of life.  Twenty percent of students will have lost one of their parents by the end of high school and 90 percent will have experienced the death of a loved one or close relative. 

Experiencing Grief
The experience of grief will vary according to the age of the person experiencing the loss.  Children and teens are not yet emotionally mature and the loss they experience may be sudden, as with a parent’s heart attack, a sibling’s death in a car crash or a friend’s suicide.  The death of a beloved pet may also be an unexpected and traumatic experience for a child or young person.  The deep hurt of a child’s death is acknowledged but sometimes we do not recognize that a miscarriage or stillbirth is also a painful loss and one that one in four women will experience.

Typical reactions to grief include profound sadness, depression, a feeling that the loss is not real, guilt, anger, lethargy, mood swings, crying, emotional regression, trouble sleeping and other physical symptoms.  Performance at work or in school may deteriorate.
Some observers consider the grief process to consist of three steps:

Step 1: Shock/Denial
Step 2: Anger/Guilt/Depression
Step 3: Acceptance

The experts who study bereavement emphasize that each person’s way of grieving is different as is the time required to work through the process.  However ways to effectively help the bereft have common themes.

Support
The support of good listeners, candid explanation of what happened, the observance of memorial ceremonies, the active acknowledgement of loss and often the assistance of grief support groups, therapy or other counseling can help the grieving process.  For teens the support of non judgmental adults and peer counseling are effective in helping teens deal with loss.

The resources that can be found by using the links below offer detailed information about dealing with bereavement, including how to help others work through the process.

Additional information about bereavement can be accessed within the following categories:

Links
Information about websites on bereavement can be found within the following categories:

Bereavement and Grief: General Information

Death from Miscarriage, Stillbirth, in Infancy and Childhood

Information for Children and Teens Suffering a Loss

Loss of a Pet