Filling the Gap
Young adults navigating connection in the context of grief
Young adults (18–25 years) often experience difficulties in maintaining social connection after the loss of a loved one, frequently keeping their grief private and thereby risking isolation and reduced peer support. Filling the Gap is a practice-based design project that explores how young adults themselves can develop strategies, concepts, and tools to remain connected during bereavement. Through student-led design processes, the project aimed to generate peer-relevant interventions while simultaneously increasing grief literacy within this age group.
A practice-based design project
Approach
In collaboration with four Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, students participated in a three-month assignment as part of their formal education. Working individually or in teams, they explored the question of how to “fill the gap” that often arises between friends when one experiences loss. The process encouraged reflection on personal and shared experiences of grief and facilitated dialogue about emotional vulnerability within student communities.
Findings
The project resulted in over 27 concepts, including art, prototypes and campaigns and were showcased in a public exhibition (please find more information about the exhibition below). Maybe even more important than the ideas that were handed in to complete their assignment, the students were very much involved and reported having learned something for life, and a greater confidence in supporting peers or starting a converstaion about grief and loss.
Moving and Pausing with Grief
A mobile that moves slowly, always searching for balance.
You are invited to add your own message—
and from that moment on, the movement changes, shaped by your presence.
Like grief, the installation never settles.
It keeps shifting, responding, becoming something new.
A quiet conversation unfolds between students who may never meet,
yet remain connected through what they have shared.
Exhibition
'What about You?"
Loss, Grief, and Friendship — Through the Eyes of Young Adults
Young adults explore how loss and grief can find a place within friendship. What do you say when words feel inadequate? How do you share what is going on inside you—and how do you do that together? How can you move through grief with someone else when there is no clear roadmap?
This exhibition brings together ideas created by young adults themselves. It reflects a strong desire for more openness, attention, and shared learning around grief and loss. “And What About You?” offers accessible, thoughtful, and light-hearted ideas that invite you to reflect on how you can navigate loss—your own or that of someone else.
The ideas developed by the students are grouped into three themes:
Me — How I can better express what is happening inside me.
You — How you can be a more supportive friend to someone else.
We — How we can move through grief together, with more ease and understanding.
