Finding the Gold in Grief: What Children Teach Us About Loss and Love

Finding the Gold in Grief: What Children Teach Us about Loss and Love is a collection of true stories from the author's experience working with grieving children, revealing the resilience, strength, compassion, and wisdom of youth as they deal with life, death, and trauma. 

Whoever knows a bereaved child or teen, is a parent, friend, neighbor, teacher or health professional, or whether an adult dealing with their own loss, recent or long ago, they will gain invaluable insights and instruction from the children in these stories. In magical ways children and teens welcome us all into the human heart of belonging. The book is for anyone wanting to understand their own grief history, help a child who grieves, or find meaning, understanding, and inspiration living together on this planet.

“Every so often a book comes along that seems to be a missing link in our understanding of grief, and psychotherapist Nina Gorbach’s Finding the Gold in Grief: What Children Teach Us About Loss and Love is just such a book. Gorbach shows how giving youngsters room to share the difficult emotions associated with early loss, helps them to discover inner strengths they never knew they had and becomes a pathway toward healing.”

--Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance

“As a healthcare provider privileged to shepherd people through many challenges, this book landed in my lap like a blessing. Nina’s writing is tender, and the precious stories reveal moments of hope and insight based on a lifetime of working with grief and loss.”

--Lata Maddipati, MD, Chief of Wellbeing, Kaiser San Francisco, Certified Instructor of Mindfulness and Compassion Practice

“We are left with a profound sense of awe and gratitude—for the children who dared to trust, for the author who dared to listen, and for the timeless truths that bind us all in our healing journey.”

-- Alexandra Kennedy, MA, LMFT, author of HONORING GRIEF: Creating Space to Let Yourself Heal; The Infinite Thread: Healing Relationships Beyond Loss

“This book is a gift to the reader and to the practice of psychology. Herein she provides much-needed ideas, insights, and information in an area where few are willing to tread. We’re all much better off for this outstanding contribution.”

-- Stephen Khamsi, PhD

“I’m convinced the end result of the children’s grief support group was the difference between potential life-long emotional problems versus a sense of compassionate understanding and reconciliation of their loss.”

-- Jeff Adams, Parent of bereaved children, now young adults.