Grief Support For Siblings

When a child has died, siblings are often referred to as "the forgotten mourners". While parents usually receive much support, siblings usually receive little – often being asked "How are your parents doing?" TCF is an organisation that is not just for bereaved parents, it is also for bereaved siblings (and grandparents).

Support Meetings

For those who have experienced the loss of a brother or sister, we welcome adult siblings to our support meetings, coffee mornings and other events.

Brochures for Bereaved Siblings

We provide the following brochures for siblings, free on request to bereaved siblings,

• When a Brother or Sister Dies

Siblings Telephone Contacts

We also welcome siblings to contact our network of Telephone Friends for those who just want someone who understands to listen.

Brisbane Trish (07) 3297 7656

Lockyer Valley Mellisa (07) 5465 6609

Gold Coast Sean 0433 957 255

Newsletters

Our newsletter has a dedicated 'Brothers and Sisters' section with articles and stories related to siblings' grief support.

Excerpts of our newsletters can be downloaded from our Newsletters page.

We would really love more contributions to our 'Brothers and Sisters' section of the newsletter. Bereaved brothers and sisters of all ages – if you have any poems, verses, articles, something you have written or anything to recommend or contribute.

Listed below are some of the siblings-related articles and verses submitted by members in memory of a loved one, plus extracts from sibling brochures available on request. Download in in pdf format.

• Sibling Grief – By Dr. Dennis Klass
• Dealing With Grief: A Sibling Viewpoint – By Rick Edler
• A Sibling's Journey of Grief – By Jacqueline Cairns
• A Boat – By Jacqueline Cairns
• Ask Dr Paulson
• Time – By Jacqueline Cairns
• My Big Brother was so good to me – By Connie Danson
• Birthday Wish – By Shannon Ausman
• Cabie - By Zachary Dimmich
• Letter From Heaven – By Belinda Troth
• Little Angel – By Aliesha Riggs
• On the Anniversary of Three Years Without You
• Time – By Julann Pontician
• To My Brother

Below are newsletters from griefHaven.org. Used with kind permission.

The Sibling Voice Newsletter - July-August 2011

The Sibling Voice Newsletter - April-June 2011

The Sibling Voice Newsletter - January-March 2011

Siblings Walking Together

(Formerly the Sibling Credo)

We are the surviving siblings of The Compassionate Friends.
We are brought together by the deaths of our brothers and sisters.
Open your hearts to us, but have patience with us.
Sometimes we will need the support of our friends.
At other times we need our families to be there.
Sometimes we must walk alone, taking our memories with us,
continuing to become the individuals we want to be.
We cannot be our dead brother or sister;
however, a special part of them lives on with us.
When our brothers and sisters died, our lives changed.
We are living a life very different from what we envisioned,
and we feel the responsibility to be strong even when we feel weak.
Yet we can go on because we understand better than many others
the value of family and the precious gift of life.
Our goal is not to be the forgotten mourners that we sometimes are,
but to walk together to face our tomorrows as surviving siblings of
The Compassionate Friends.