How can we help a child grieve when they may not have the words to tell us they’re hurting?
Therapist Sissy Goff joins Amy Julia Becker to explore how children with disabilities experience and express grief. Grief doesn’t always look like sadness; it can show up through regression, anger, anxiety, changes in behavior, and more.
Sissy shares practical ways parents and caregivers can help children express their emotions, set loving boundaries around difficult behaviors, use play and memory-making to process loss, and move toward hope without leaving grief behind.
00:00 Grief and kids with disabilities
05:13 Understanding regression as a coping mechanism
06:48 The stages of grief and their cyclical nature
10:25 Checking in on kids and their emotions
13:28 The role of play in healing
15:17 Helping children process complex emotions and behaviors
18:43 Fostering hope and remembrance in children
22:11 Next Steps to Process Grief
MENTIONED IN EPISODE 31:
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ABOUT:
Sissy Goff is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, speaker, and Executive Director of Daystar Counseling in Nashville. With more than three decades of counseling experience, she helps children, teens, and families navigate anxiety, build resilience, and grow in confidence and connection. She’s the author of more than twenty books, including her newest, Helping Kids Through Grief, and co-host of the Raising Boys & Girls podcast, which has been downloaded more than 14 million times. You can connect with Sissy at raisingboysandgirls.com or find daily encouragement on Instagram at @sissygoff and @raisingboysandgirls.
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Take the Next Step is a resource from the Hope Heals Network, a collective of thought leaders offering honest and hopeful wisdom to help people flourish in the good and hard parts of their stories. To learn more about the work of Hope Heals, visit hopeheals.com or follow @hopeheals on Instagram.
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