As teens who are grieving, we have the right to…
- Know the truth about the death, the person who died, and the circumstances surrounding the death
- Ask questions and have them answered honestly
- Be heard and listened to without receiving unsolicited advice
- Be silent and not share our thoughts and emotions out loud
- Disagree with your perceptions and conclusions
- See the person who died and the place where they died, if we choose to
- Grieve in our own ways – without hurting ourselves or others
- Feel all the feelings and to think all the thoughts of our own unique grief
- Not have to follow the “Stages of Grief” as outlined in a high school health book
- Be angry at death, the person who died, God, ourselves, and others
- Disagree with people who are insensitive especially those who spout clichés
- Have our own beliefs about life and death
- Be involved in the decisions about the rituals related to the death
- Have irrational guilt about what we could have done to prevent the death