Where’s my mum now?

Children’s perspectives on helps & hindrances to their grief

 By Brian Cranwell

In an unprecedented new book, Brian Cranwell shares the results of a three-year research programme conducted at Sheffield Hallam University with the publication of Where’s my mum now? Children’s perspectives on helps & hindrances to their grief (published by AuthorHouse).

Completed in 2007, the Sheffield Hallam study was the first UK study to collect data on the grieving processes of children with a deceased parent directly from children themselves. Cranwell, whose thesis from the study earned him his MPhil degree, combines the study’s findings with information personally collected from 15 years as a bereavement counsellor and minister. Quotes from video interviews by the Child Bereavement Network flesh out the content of the book.

 Rather than a technical, overly academic approach, Where’s my mum now? is presented in a straightforward, accessible format. Children are given the unique opportunity to tell their stories in their own words, shedding an important light on their perception of death and dying and the impact it has.

Each child has a different experience. Some are given information about their parent’s condition, some are not, some are excluded from the rites of passage while others participate in various capacities. The reactions of teachers and classmates is analysed, along with the surviving parent’s coping skills and how the behaviour of adults can be positive or negative. Learn more in the pages of this insightful, concise new book.

The book’s foreword By Rt Hon David Blunkett MP commends this book from the basis of his own experiences when his father died following a horrendous works accident when David was 12 years old

 About the Author

Brian Cranwell, MSc, MPhil has worked with Cruse Bereavement Care, The Gone Forever Trust and The Child Bereavement Charity. A retired minister, he has given personal support to bereaved children for 15 years and is a member of the Bereavement Research Forum. Cranwell is also the author of Get it Together: The unemployment handbook for community groups.

For a review copy or interview request, please contact:

Publicity Coordinator

Tel (UK): 0800 197 4150

pressreleases@authorhouse.com

In Preparation:

 Ethical issues, prejudices  and obstacles to researching with children.