Supporting bereaved young people and families affected by serious youth violence

Tailor your support

It’s crucial to tailor the intervention you offer to suit the unique needs of the people you are supporting.

For example, you might be working with someone who prefers a weekly telephone call with occasional text “check-ins”, or someone who prefers face-to-face meetings every few days, or someone who prefers a mixture of video and phone calls every fortnight.

Ask people how best they would like to be supported and be consistent, proactive, transparent and as flexible as possible with your support. Working in this way will help to build comprehensive trust-based support with the individuals you are working with.

Be realistic about what you can and can’t do, and make sure you communicate this clearly at the beginning and throughout your involvement.

Be mindful and respectful of people’s religious or cultural needs and factor this into the way you provide support.

Be sensitive to and aware of different cultural practices of the people you’re supporting.

This could be in relation to, for example, mourning and grieving processes, how and when funerals may be conducted as well as differing family structures that need to be taken into account.

There will also be a need to recognise the intricacies of intersecting identities, therefore it’s important to be led by the individuals or families you are supporting and listen to what they have communicated about the different ways they have been impacted by their bereavement.

Questions to think about:

1. Have you explored the different ways in which people would like to be supported and are you able to realistically to offer support in said ways?
2. How can you make sure you are providing consistent and proactive support?
3. Are you aware of people’s cultural backgrounds and have you tailored your support to be mindful/respectful of this?

Map out the relationship network

With the input of bereaved family members (that are willing and emotionally able to do so) mapping out and identifying all the people that had significant relationships with the victim is a helpful exercise to pinpoint as many members of the relationship network as possible.

Oftentimes, bereaved people outside of the immediate family – such as aunts, uncles, peers, cousins, family friends, neighbours - can be forgotten when it comes to being signposted to bereavement support.

This is particularly important for young people who have lost a friend or peer to serious youth violence, whose lives are likely to be significantly impacted by grief in different ways.

These young people may not be eligible for support from many specialist bereavement services due to not being an immediate or closely linked family member. It’s also the case that immediate family members may be unaware of all the young people that had relationships with the person who has died.

Doing this exercise may ultimately help reduce the amount of pressure on immediate family members, who may be unexpectedly made to carry the burden of providing emotional support to, for example, young people in the community who used to be friends with the victim, in the absence of being signposted to professional or peer support groups.

We have produced an example of a relationship or “eco-map” for reference.

Questions to think about:

1. Who might be missed in a relationship network to receive bereavement support?
2. How best can individuals be reached and who might be the best person to reach them?
3. How can we help signpost bereaved young peers to the age-appropriate available services?

Map out the professional network

Similar to the above, working with the bereaved individual or family to map out all the professionals in their lives may help them access a wider range of support. This can include their gp, teachers, a youth worker, counsellor, family liaison officer, victim liaison officer, support worker and so on.

Helping the family to combine all contact details of professional in their networks into one succinct and easily accessible location, may help to alleviate the pressure of administrative burdens at such a difficult time.

Once you’ve been given consent to access the professional network, you can act as the key person linking the professional network together to co-formulate a plan of support for the bereaved family. If there is already a key professional in place, you can advocate for the people you’re supporting to make sure this is being done.

This may also be a key opportunity to signpost individuals to services you think they would benefit from that may not have reached out for independently. For example, you can signpost a bereaved young londoner to a local youth-based emotional support service, pastoral care at their school or their gp, depending on their level of need.

Questions to think about:

1. Which other professionals are working with the family or individual you are supporting?
2. Are these professionals offering the right level of support or can this be improved?
3. How can you best work with other professionals to make sure people are getting all the help and support they can access?

Upskill

You can upskill to increase your education and engage in specialist training about:

1. The impact of bereavement and the different ways it can affect people. This is something that the bereaved family members and peers we worked with highlighted was important; they desired skilled workers that know about the complexities of bereavement and the various ways it can impact people differently.

2. Youth-related grief; recognising that it involves different emotions, thoughts, and feelings compared to other forms of bereavement. There was a clear need for practitioners to receive specialised training in this area. It was identified that specialist support must be tailored to different age groups, with age-appropriate approaches that consider how grief affects people at various stages of life.

3. The mental health issues that can arise because of bereavement, particularly traumatic bereavement, such as ptsd and nightmares.

4. How neurodivergence affects the grieving process. This is also important to learn about as neurodivergence can significantly impact how people understand, process and deal with heavy emotions.

5. The relevant safeguarding policies and procedures under which you operate professionally. This is so you can be clear and confident about any safeguarding actions you need to take to support any vulnerable or at-risk people you are working with.

6. Organisations such as Child Bereavement UK, Support After Murder and Manslaughter (SAMM) and UK Trauma Council have a wealth or resources and training opportunities to increase your knowledge and skill set when it comes to supporting individuals who have experienced bereavement.

Questions to think about:

1. Do you know enough about the impact of bereavement and how it can impact people differently?
2. Do you know where you can access information to fill any knowledge gaps you may have?
3. Can your employer support you to access specialist training you require?

Carry out a risk assessment

When it comes to serious youth violence there may be ongoing risks posed to the family

Members (immediate and extended) and peers of the person who has died. This could be with regards to any ongoing rival group or ‘gang’ related violence or threats of violence.

Be sure to sensitively gather information and risk assess any locations you plan to meet any young people or their family members in; this is so you do your best to ensure the safety of those in attendance at your meetings and take any necessary precautions.

If it’s not possible to ascertain whether it or not it’s safe to meet in a physical place, it may be best to provide telephone or video-call based support.

Questions to think about:

1. Have you properly risk assessed the places and spaces you hope to provide in-person support in, to make sure those present will remain safe?
2. How can you work with other professionals in the bereaved family’s network to ensure safety is maintained?
3. How can you tailor your support to account for any identified risks?

Link in with local and community-based support

Work to coordinate your intervention with key members of the local community and other professionals within the bereaved family’s network.

With consent, multiagency working is often a crucial way to provide holistic support to the individuals and families you’re working with. This can include, for example, linking in with gps, health visitors, teachers or pastoral care workers within schools, youth workers, social care and faith groups.

You could explore whether providing in-person support within certain community settings, such as community centres or schools, would be preferable to those you are supporting; it’s often the case that these settings are familiar spaces that people feel more comfortable in.

For bereaved young people impacted by serious youth violence, youth centre, school or

College-based support within the affected community may be something you could offer or work alongside other relevant education-based professionals, to create.

Oftentimes, some local community peer-based bereavement support groups, such as

Bereavement cafes, are not widely advertised beyond flyers posted in local supermarkets, coffee shops or GP surgeries. This may mean you need to physically search for and identify local groups and share this information with the individuals and families you’re supporting.

Questions to think about:

1. Have you explored places and spaces within the community where you can provide in-person support in that are familiar to those you are supporting?
2. How can you help spread information about local bereavement services as widely as possible to those who need it?
3. How can you work to create connections with key community groups and spaces for the benefit of bereaved community members?

Ensure independence and neutrality

Although it’s important to work alongside other professionals, it’s important to emphasise that your role and involvement are unique and separate from other organisations. This is especially important when working with young people and their families impacted by serious youth violence whereby there may be a lack of trust in professionals.

Be clear about your intentions to provide tailored, non-judgemental, trust-based support at a pace that is comfortable for those you are supporting.

This could help reduce any anxieties people may have about associations with, for example, other institutions they have had poor or harmful interactions with.

Individuals or families should be made to feel comfortable seeking and receiving help from your service or organisation and you should continue to build a trusting and positive relationship throughout your intervention.

Questions to think about:

1. Have you made the nature of your role clear and distinct from others that may be present in the bereaved family’s network?
2. How can you effectively work alongside other professionals in a bereaved family’s network without losing the trust and confidence of those you are supporting?