In this episode, Gabe and Rebekah sit down with a longtime friend of the RFL community, child and adolescent counselor Sissy Goff. For 34 years, Sissy has walked alongside kids and parents at Daystar Counseling in Nashville, and in this conversation she brings all of that experience to one of the hardest, most necessary topics a parent will ever face: grief.
This episode centers on Sissy's new book, Helping Kids Through Grief, and the wisdom she's carried through walking alongside the Covenant School community after the tragedy that shook Nashville and the nation. Together, they talk about the interesting ways kids tend to process grief, the importance of a safe, steady adult in their lives, and specific tools that can be used in their healing journey.
Whether you're helping a child process the death of a loved one, walking through the loss of divorce, or simply looking for the right words in the first raw days after tragedy, this conversation offers hope and a clear path towards healing and renewal.
In this episode, you'll hear:
- Post-Traumatic Growth over Stress: Gain hope from research showing that post-traumatic growth occurs far more frequently in children than post-traumatic stress when given proper support.
- Grieving in Doses: Discover how children process loss like coming up for air while swimming, moving rapidly between intense emotion and normal play.
- The Power of One Safe Adult: Unpack why a child doesn't need perfect circumstances to heal, but rather one safe, steady adult who stays close and present.
- Empathy Without Enabling: How to validate a child's hardest emotions while still holding the line on behavior.
- The Memory Box: Be equipped with a simple, powerful practice for helping kids remember, honor, and carry forward what they've lost in a healing way.
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