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

If you have questions or need additional information

Call: 516-799-5873Email: lousab@aol.com

Website: www.empoweringthebereaved.com