The Healing Power of Children's Stories in Grief Counselling
- Ali Mills
- Oct 21
- 2 min read
🪷 I love kids books 🪷
There's something quietly profound about opening a children's book when the world feels too heavy. Children's stories have this magical way of articulating the most complicated and overwhelming of human experiences and making them feel less isolating.
Why Children's Stories Work for Everyone
Children's books have a unique ability to distil complex emotions into their essence. They don't overwhelm us with clinical terminology or force us to intellectualise our pain. Instead, they invite us into a story, a gentle space where we can encounter our feelings at a safe distance, wrapped in metaphor and illustration.
And here's what might surprise you: I use these books with kids and adults alike.
Because grief doesn't have an age limit, and neither does the power of story. There's no age at which we outgrow our need for gentle wisdom, or our capacity to be moved by a well-told tale.
The Ritual of Slowing Down
Even the process of sitting down, going slow, and stepping into the story can be healing in and of itself. Beyond the content, there's something therapeutic in the very act of reading these stories together.
In our grief, we're often rushing. Rushing through feelings we don't want to feel, rushing to "get better," rushing to appear normal again.
A picture book asks us to slow down. To pause. To let the words and images sink in. This slowness itself becomes an act of care.
Stories That Hold Space
The best grief books for children (and adults) don't try to fix anything. They don't promise that everything will be okay, or that the pain will disappear. Instead, they do something more valuable: they witness. They say, "This is hard. You're not alone in this. It's okay to feel what you're feeling."
They create what I call "emotional vocabulary", giving names and images to feelings that might otherwise seem too big or too shapeless to grasp. A child (or adult) who couldn't find words for their confusion might point to a character and say, "That's how I feel." And suddenly, the unspeakable becomes speakable.
An Invitation
These are a few of my favourites. I use them with kids and adults, because grief doesn't have an age limit, and neither does the power of story.
The Invisible String by Patrice Karst
Tear Soup: A Recipe for Healing After Loss by Chuck DeKlyen and Pat Schwiebert
Beginnings and Endings with Lifetimes In between by Bryan Mellonie
The Heart and a Bottle by Oliver Jeffers
Sad Book by Michael Wayne Rosen
The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld
I wonder, have you found yourself reaching for stories as you navigate the hard things?
Maybe it's a book that was read to you as a child, or one you've discovered more recently. Maybe it's not even about grief directly, but something about it makes you feel seen.
🪷 What has helped you feel seen?🪷
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