ABSTRACT
It is generally thought that a child starts to understand the concept of death from the age of six. Before then they will still miss a person or animal that has died, but may not be able to understand that the person/animal is never coming back. They still need to grieve for that person/animal and be able to talk about them. The script is written specifically for young children who have lost an animal, which may be the first bereavement they will experience. There is a short introduction at the beginning of the script to bring in the subject of the animal and suggests the animal is now living somewhere else. The hypnotherapist will discover where the animal is living and then use one of the four alternative locations (farm; circus, zoo or any other place the child mentions) to visit the animal. Eventually the idea is embedded that the animal will continue to live elsewhere and will not be coming back.
