DEATH IN THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY: A HANDBOOK FOR COUNSELORS, TEACHERS, AND ADMINISTRATORS

• NCJ Number: 147354
• Author(s): M D Oates
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 146 pages
• Sale Source: American Counseling Assoc
• Publication Type: Policy/Procedure Handbook/Manual
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This handbook is designed to help teachers, counselors, and administrators cope with a death in the school community; it deals with planning for death, understanding grief in school-age children and youth, facilitating healthy grief responses, and leading loss and grief groups.

Abstract

When a death occurs in the school community, all students, teachers, and staff are affected to some degree. Depending on how the school responds, the wide range of emotions and behaviors students exhibit in response to a death can cause major disruptions. Because murder and suicide represent leading causes of death among high school students, the author presents a current perspective on the rapid escalation of deaths among school-age children and youth and cites incidents reported in newspapers and news magazines over a 12-month period. Data from national studies and anecdotal evidence of homicides, suicides, accidental deaths, and deaths on school campuses dramatize the need for response plans. Elements of an effective death response plan are discussed, as well as procedures for determining the degree of trauma caused by a death. Common grief reactions of students to death are examined, and techniques counselors and teachers can use to educate students about death and to facilitate healthy grief responses are described. The handbook includes classroom guidance units, writing activities, artwork, memorials, puppetry, sand tray work, bibliotherapy, metaphors, and storytelling. Detailed information is provided on group counseling with students after a death and on the logistics of leading groups in the school setting. Case studies illustrate the application of principles and strategies discussed in previous chapters of the handbook and give the reader an opportunity to practice planning effective responses. Appendixes include an annotated bibliography and memoranda related to response plans and sample forms for implementing grief support groups. 129 references and 1 figure