L27 A Siblings Grief for young Adults C13R1404

UK Helpline: 0345 123 2304 | www.tcf.org.uk Weight of responsibility for our sibling’s children If our sibling had children, we may feel responsible for them in some way and want to keep their parent’s memory alive. At the same time, we might feel inadequate and that our efforts are not worth much. We may also feel guilty that we are alive while their parent is not. While we may enjoy seeing our nieces or nephews blossom, it will be painful, knowing that our sibling is not here to see them too. Future events We may feel guilty celebrating Christmas or other events as our sibling isn’t able to. We may worry that people seeing us celebrating will assume we have forgotten our sibling and think that our grieving is over. Overwhelming grief Sometimes it might seem everything within our family has become about the death of our sibling. This could be overwhelming. We might wish for everyone to give themselves a break and think about other things sometimes. Every family is different. We may or may not experience any of the above. If this does happen to us though, it could make our grief harder to navigate. At times we might even feel angry towards our sibling for dying and leaving us to deal with the aftermath. Speaking to other people in similar circumstances, or professionals, may help us make some sense of what we are going through and give us ideas for how to manage our own situation. “When my sister died, I felt a real need to do something for her memory. There was nothing I could do to bring her back but I could do something she would have been proud of. Running a half marathon for her favourite charity helped me through my grief because it gave me a purpose and made me feel close to her even though she was gone.” - Anna