“Walking through rough stuff together”: Facilitators’ narrative identity construction and communication with bereaved children in a midwestern grief center

Childhood bereavement in the U.S. is a common and life-changing experience that often necessitates multifaceted efforts by family, educators, and community programs alike. Many grief centers offer support groups for bereaved children with developing understandings of death. Despite their important roles in this development, the individuals responsible for facilitating learning and communication in grieving children have yet to be studied. Thus, through the lens of communicated narrative sense-making (CNSM) theory, the present study explores how 14 volunteer facilitators of children's support groups at one Midwestern U.S. grief center made sense of their communication processes and narratively constructed their identities in their unique roles. Reflexive and narrative thematic analyses generated six key communication strategies (utilizing space, promoting play, creating a safe place, getting on the same level, using direct language, being flexible) employed across three distinct facilitator identities (connectors, experts, and learners). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.