Experts from all over the country have vowed to do more do more to help youngsters cope with grief following a North-East conference on child bereavement.

About 100 delegates attended the third annual conference of Tees Valley Cruse Bereavement Care in Darlington.

Called 'A Child's Grief', it featured key speakers from all over the country and workshops designed to promote greater understanding of childhood grief and equip professionals with skills to help.

Chaired by social worker and non-executive director of Darlington Primary Care Trust with special responsibility for children Bill Dixon, the day-long event tackled a range of issues associated with children's ability to cope with death and the help they receive.

Mr Dixon told delegates: "We almost always forget the children when there is bereavement -- we think it's an adult thing. Human beings develop rituals to bring closure. Why do we believe that children are any different? But we do.

"May be we should start asking children because we are particularly bad at that. We have very little expertise in helping them. Hopefully this conference is the beginning of a process to put that right."

Cruse area co-ordinator Ian Rogers said: 2The feedback from the day was excellent, so much so that I will consider holding a similar day in the autumn. We certainly achieved our aim of raising the awareness of the needs of bereaved children and the ways in which they can be helped. Hopefully the delegates who attended will try to make a difference."

Tees Valley Cruse covers 3,000 square miles including Darlington, Teesdale, Weardale, Teesside, Hartlepool, Hambleton and Richmondshire. The conference attracted interest from professionals from all over the UK.

Among the speakers were president and founder of the Child Bereavement Trust, Jenni Thomas, who received the OBE in 2002 for her work with bereaved children. She talked about how adults could support young people who have experienced the death of someone close to them. Child psychologist Dr Virginia Ryan talked about how play therapy could help bereaved children and families and outlined current practice. She is part-time director of the University of York's MA/diploma in non-directive play therapy programme.

Delegates then attended a number of workshops which tackled a wide variety of issues such as building confidence in people who work with children who are grieving; the law and children's rights in relation to counselling with Manchester University lecturer Peter Jenkins; and running a bereavement group in a secondary school with Ralph Pettingill, senior practitioner with the Newcastle-based Orchard Service Bereavement Team.

In other sessions, psychologists Dr Mike O'Connor and Dr Alison Russell focused on the impact of trauma and the nature and effects of traumatic memories on children. Both were involved in projects to support the community of Dunblane in the aftermath of the school killings in 1996.

Finally, Simon Eedle, also of the Orchard Service Bereavement Team, ran a workshop examining the use of e-mail in supporting bereaved young people.