Full Description
"Burns provides an excellent, user-friendly guide to help school personnel navigate the tricky waters of children's grief. This is a welcome resource for school professionals."
—Steve Hoff, Licensed Psychologist
Great Barrington, MA
"The author's sensitivity and understanding of cultural variations in reaction to loss provide a much needed perspective to this important topic."
—Heta-Maria Miller, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology
The College of Saint Rose
Help students deal with grief and loss in appropriate, healthy ways.
Most students experience some form of loss in their lives, and the resulting grief can profoundly affect their academic performance, emotional stability, and social interactions. Serving both as a resource and workbook, this reader-friendly primer helps educators and school counselors understand and respond to the extraordinary challenges that children and adolescents may face when dealing with loss and grief.
Featuring helpful charts, quotes, activities, case studies, reproducible handouts, and resources from national organizations, this sourcebook offers strategies to help students affected by divorce; death of a parent, relative, friend, or pet; violence; chronic illness; and more. The author examines grief experiences at different developmental levels and illustrates how to:
Respond appropriately to expressions of grief that are unique to children and adolescents
Help students handle emotions associated with loss
Promote communication and facilitate effective interventions
Determine when to refer a child to a specialist
Respect cultural attitudes toward loss and grief
This resource underscores the importance of understanding how children experience grief and loss and helps educators assist in ways that promote students' emotional health and recovery.
Contents
Foreword by Kenneth J. Doka
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
1. Am I Qualified to Work With Grieving Children?
Overview
Self-Awareness
Reflection Activity
Case Study: How Do I Tell the Children? Part I
Thought Provokers and Issues to Consider
Chapter Reflection
Key Terms
2. What Are the Different Types of Losses and Grief Reactions?
Overview
Dimensions of Loss
Anticipatory Grief Versus Unanticipated Grief
PRECEDENT: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Grief Responses
Thought Provokers and Issues to Consider
Chapter Reflection
Key Terms
3. What Do I Need to Know About Children's Grief?
Overview
Developmental Processes
What and How Children Grieve
Case Study: How Do I Tell the Children? Part II
Gender Differences
Thought Provokers and Issues to Consider
Chapter Reflection
Key Terms
4. What Do I Need to Know About Adolescents' Grief?
Overview
Developmental Processes
Cognitive Factors
Socioemotional Factors
Family and Peers
School, Media, and Technology
How Teens Grieve
Risk-Taking Behaviors and Suicide
Suicide Prevention
Case Study: Reactions to a Classmate's Suicide
Thought Provokers and Issues to Consider
Chapter Reflection
Key Terms
5. What Can I Do to Help Grieving Students?
Overview
"But I'm Not a Grief Counselor . . ."
Things You Need to Know First
Things You Can Do
Rituals and Activities
Cultural Considerations
Humor
Thought Provokers and Issues to Consider
Chapter Reflection
Key Terms
6. What Are the Elements of School-Based Crisis Response?
Overview
School-Based Crisis Response
Crisis Response Team
Skills and Training
Types of Crises
School Crisis Response Plan
Crisis Postvention
Thought Provokers and Issues to Consider
Chapter Reflection
Key Terms
7. What Grief and Loss Resources Should Our School Have Available?
Overview
Naional Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Resources
Fernside and Banana Splits Resource Center Reading Lists
Online Resources
School Grief and Loss Resource Library
Thought Provokers and Issues to Consider
Chapter Reflection
Postscript
Glossary
References
Index
