Bereavement Counseling in the School Setting by Luciano Sabatini, Ph.D.

Challenges Facing Newly Bereaved Students Living in a death phobic society Dealing with death illiterate adults Being sheltered from the truth Lack of life experience in dealing with loss

Challenges Facing Counselors Children & adolescents grieve differently than adults Cultural differences in dealing with grief Parental resistance especially in blended families Adolescent need to fit in, not feel different Uniqueness of grief, no template for grief

Immediate Interventions: Assisting a Grieving Student How do you prepare for a student’s return to school?

Planning for a Student’s Return Using the child study team, develop a plan which includes: Who will provide counseling for the student? Who should know about the loss? What accommodations should be made to school work? What assistance do teachers and other staff need? What communication is needed with the home? Who will monitor student progress?

Developing Sound Practices and Procedures Articulation within school and between schools on student’s loss Notifying students when the death has occurred while in school Remembering the anniversaries Review practices that may be antiquated

Long Term Interventions: Support Groups Does your school use support groups to assist bereaved students? What has been your experience with using such groups?

Preliminary Steps to Starting a Group Notifying administration & getting support Identifying students Deciding on facilitators Selecting a site for the group

Solving the Logistics for a Group Determining when to start, day of the week, and meeting pattern Notifying teachers Communicating with students Interviewing students for the group Obtaining parental permission

The First Meeting of the Support Group Introducing the facilitators Student introductions Nature of a support group Establishing ground rules Ice-breakers Follow-up with students who did not attend

Subsequent meetings Picture of the deceased family member Review of week Ice- breakers Holiday concerns Introduce concept of empowerment

After the Holidays What did they learn that could help for next year Review of the week Student authored Ice breakers Empowerment activities “ teaching others how to help the bereaved”

Terminating the Group When to end Last Meeting Setting goals for the future— reunion activity Feedback for future groups

Death of a Student Has your school ever experienced this? What was the school’s response?

Crisis Intervention Assembling a crisis team Identifying needs of students, staff, parents & community Developing a plan to meet these needs Implementing the plan Daily meetings to assess plan and make changes where needed

Components of the Plan Providing assistance to faculty Communicating tragic news Providing counseling & safe havens for students Identifying and reaching out to students most impacted by the loss Keeping the community organizations informed Providing assistance during wake & funeral Evening parent meeting

Do’s and Don’ts Do respect individual differences in grief. Do maintain a routine and structure with allowances Do allow for activities to memorialize the deceased Don’t have large assemblies to discuss tragic news Don’t force counseling on grieving students

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