The theories of grief which we find helpful at Child Bereavement UK are:

• Stroebe and Schut: The dual process model explains how grieving behaviour moves between restoration-focused and loss-focused phases.
• Worden’s tasks of mourning: The four tasks are; accept the reality of the loss; process; adjust and connect. There is no time limit to grief, and it does not follow a linear sequence.
• Tonkin’s model: In time grief does not get smaller, but we grow our lives around it.