GRIEVING SESSIONS TO CHILDREN LIVING WITH HIV

INTRODUCTION

PASADA takes care of more than 3000 children living with HIV. One of the challenges the children face is difficulty in understanding how they got the infection and coping with the losses of loved ones as a result of HIV and AIDS.

Having grieving sessions helps them in this process of building resilience. In its program, PASADA conducts Grieving Sessions to children every year.

Grieving is to mourn or feel sorrow for several reasons like death of our beloved ones, our sickness of our self or our beloved ones, separation, disasters, war etc. It is an approach of psychosocial support too.

Psychosocial support is the process of meeting a person's emotional, social, mental and spiritual needs. All of these are essential elements of positive human development.

Psychosocial support is needed by all children. It promotes their psychological and emotional well-being, as well as their physical and mental development.

Psychosocial support helps to build resiliency in children. It also supports families to provide for the physical, economic, educational, social and health needs of children. Children are resilient, but when faced with extreme adversity and trauma, they and their families can need extra support. Psychosocial support builds internal and external resources for children and their families to be able to understand and deal with adverse events.

Some children need specific, additional psychosocial support. These interventions usually target children who have experienced extreme trauma or adversity, or who are not receiving the necessary support from caregivers. Such interventions should be provided in addition to any ongoing support from families and community. 

Many things can impact on a child’s psychosocial well-being, including poverty, conflict, neglect and abuse. HIV and AIDS can compound these. As a result of HIV and AIDS, children might experience traumatic events such as the illness and death of parents or themselves, violence and exploitation, stigma and discrimination, isolation and loneliness, and lack of adult support and guidance.

Appropriate psychosocial support helps children and their families to overcome these challenges, and builds coping mechanisms, trust and hope in their future.

Advantages:

• Children know their potential in their family (as human beings)

• Accept the fact they live with HIV and they are affected with TB. When they take their TB medications properly will be cured and free from the disease.

• They forgive the people whom did not tell them their status.

• Promise to each other to study hard, and to achieve their goals.

• Children learn that in the community there are legal assistance systems like Police, Hospital and Schools that they are there to help them. Whenever they have problems can go and seek assistance.

Issues:

• Children living with HIV have needs which need to be discussed and understood.   
• Caregivers/parents/guardians need to be open to children especially on issues pertaining to their children.

• Caregivers need parenting seminars on dealing with co infected diseases.