Finding Comfort While Grieving

My Grief Comfort Book, written by Brie Overton and illustrated by Jessie White, is a colorful and warm activity book to help children process the many emotions and feelings they experience after the loss of a loved one.

“It’s normal to experience grief,” Overton writes in the welcome to her thoughtful and inclusive activity book. “There’s no right or wrong way.” Nor right or wrong emotions; in fact, children will likely feel all of them. The Grief Comfort Book enables children to feel everything through creative and comforting activities that encourage them to identify and express those emotions, as well as connect with both the loved one they’ve lost and the living ones who are there to help and support them.

Overton drew from her decades of work as a clinical mental health counselor to develop  activities that apply to a range of ages.  Becoming more involved as the book progresses, they explore the varied and conflicting emotions of grief—sadness, anger, loneliness—and encourage introspection in a safe space through a variety of tasks, from creative and tactile to physical and active, all layered with accessible metaphors.  Using the enclosed kits and stickers as well as their own imaginations, children perform activities and create items or spaces that they can return to when they want comfort and connection in the future. For example, the Goodbye Letter includes writing a letter with the enclosed stationary to tell your lost loved one your feelings and say thank you.  Wash Away Worries instructs children to write their worries and concerns in chalk on the sidewalk and then erase and release them by dropping a water balloon on the words.  

The Grief Comfort Book is at-home therapy to help children and adults navigate grief together. “Share these activities with your family and friends,” Overton tells readers.  “Grieving together helps us to connect and care for one another.” As she says in Finger Painted Feelings, “Grief can be messy—and so can finger painting.”