My child has died. How do I talk about my grief?

14 Colleagues and employers By law, you are allowed two weeks off work if your child was under the age of 18 when they died. (This might not be paid leave.) If you are self-employed, you may not have an opportunity to take much time off. Eventually you may have to go back to work, for financial or other reasons. You may find that you look forward to the distraction and involvement in something other than your grief. Still, you might be nervous about it. You may worry about how colleagues will react to you and how you will cope with their reactions. You may also worry that your grief has had an impact on your ability to focus on work tasks. If you have a line manager or Human Resources department, you should be able to talk about this before your return. You may also want to ask whether your colleagues have been told about your child’s death. People at work may be afraid to mention your child. If you feel able to lead the way by talking about them, colleagues may, in turn, feel able to offer you some support. The ‘small talk’ at work can be hard to take when you are grieving. It may help to identify a place where you can go to be alone if you feel overwhelmed.