Synopsis
Support relatives before and after death with honest communication, practical guidance and proportionate risk assessment while recognising normal grief, identifying traumatic or prolonged difficulty and connecting each person to the level of help they need.
- Bereavement begins before death for many families; assess understanding, exhaustion, conflict, practical responsibilities and what information each person is authorised to receive.
- Give a clear account of what happened, invite questions and acknowledge uncertainty; repeated short conversations are usually more useful than one information-heavy meeting.
- Normal grief can include disbelief, yearning, anger, guilt, poor sleep, reduced concentration and waves of distress without representing mental illness.
- First-line support is compassionate listening, written practical information, connection with existing social networks and a named service contact rather than automatic psychological treatment.
- Assess immediate safety when someone expresses hopelessness, self-blame, inability to care for dependants, substance escalation, self-neglect or thoughts of joining the person who died.
- Sudden, violent, paediatric, stigmatised or witnessed death and previous trauma or mental illness increase vulnerability but do not determine the outcome for an individual.
- Children need truthful developmentally appropriate words, preserved routines, a trusted adult and a choice about viewing, funerals and memory activities.
- Do not prescribe sedatives routinely for grief. Diagnose and treat a coexisting depressive, anxiety, sleep, substance or trauma disorder on its own evidence and with follow-up.
- Persistent intense yearning or preoccupation with marked functional impairment beyond the expected cultural context may indicate prolonged grief and merits specialist assessment.
- Offer graded support: universal information, targeted bereavement groups or counselling for higher need and specialist mental-health or safeguarding intervention for complex risk.
Key red flags
A stated wish to die, a specific suicide plan or access to lethal means requires urgent risk management.
Psychosis, mania, severe intoxication or withdrawal needs emergency assessment rather than bereavement counselling alone.
A bereaved caregiver unable to feed, supervise or protect dependants creates an immediate safeguarding concern.
Persistent intrusive trauma, extreme avoidance or dissociation after a witnessed death may indicate a trauma disorder.
Marked functional impairment with enduring yearning well beyond cultural expectations merits prolonged-grief assessment.
Escalating alcohol, sedative or illicit-drug use can worsen impulsivity, sleep and suicide risk.
Family conflict about the death, property or information can create risk and requires clear confidentiality and safeguarding boundaries.
Suicidal intent, psychosis, severe intoxication, violence, inability to protect a child or complete self-neglect requires same-day emergency or safeguarding intervention.
Investigation priorities
Explore understanding, relationship, immediate practical needs, culture, support, dependants and the person's preferred type of contact.
Management branches
A relative is bereaved without evidence of immediate danger or severe functional breakdown.
- Give a clear account of events and next steps, invite questions and provide written contacts for registration, funeral, benefits and bereavement support.
- Validate variable grief, explore existing family, community and faith resources and ask permission for a planned follow-up contact.
- At follow-up reassess safety, sleep, function, dependants and unresolved clinical questions and offer escalation without pathologising ordinary grief.
A child or young person is affected by the illness or death of someone important.
- Establish what the child knows, use direct age-appropriate language, correct misconceptions and identify the trusted adult for continuing conversations.
- Offer choices about visiting, viewing, funerals and memory-making and coordinate nursery, school or youth support with consent.
- Monitor behaviour, physical symptoms, sleep, school, self-blame and safety over time and refer to specialist child services when impairment persists.