Counseling With Children in contemporary society By Marissa Mahoney & Shelby Ferriere

Grief Counseling Loses are amplified Grief counseling creates community for children

Grieving Children Death leads to secondary loss Angela 7 year old girl Awareness of loss can give insight into grieving process Angela 7 year old girl Other subtle or less obvious losses give insight to the grieving process

Children’s Developmental Understanding of death A child’s understanding of death changes as he or her develops Piaget’s Developmental stages help MHC’s predict age appropriate responses to death - Preoperational stage (2-7) Reversibility Concrete operations stage (7-12) Prepositional operations (13-up)

Talking to Children About Death Defining death to children -using specific definitions Common questions Examples “Who will take care of me if you die too?” “What is heaven?” “Can I die if I go to sleep?”

Understanding the Nature of Children’s Bereavement 21st Century Influences Three Categories in assessing a grieving child Individual factors Death related factors Support system factors Five factors known to increase complications of mourners Sudden or traumatic death Social stigma & shame Multiple losses Past relationship with the deceased The grief process of the surviving parent or caretaker

Interventions for Individual Counseling Responsibility of Mental Health Counselors The goal is to allow safe expression of children’s grief responses in a respectful environment Coping techniques - Expression of feelings - Projective play - connecting to and maintaining memories Five strategies of connection to a deceased parent Techniques

Education Support group Education parents School system The more consistency MHC’S can create the more solid and secure their world will become Education parents School system

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1YA_w1K76o

Smiling Animals