supporting greiving student pandemic webinar slides.pdf

Supporting the grieving student during the pandemic

David J Schonfeld, MD, FAAP
Director, National Center For School Crisis And Bereavement
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Contact Information:
schonfel@usc.edu
SchoolCrisisCenter.org | GrievingStudents.org
1-877-536-NCSCB (1-877-536-2722)

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Explain the major concepts of death in age-appropriate ways.
Respond constructively to children's common feelings and behaviors after a death.
Initiate and maintain positive, helpful communication.

Most children want to help friends, yet often have limited experience.
They may make insensitive comments, ask repetitive or detailed questions, or tease grieving peers.
A study of children ages 6-15 who experienced the death of a parent found that 20% experienced direct, raw taunting about their loss.
Educators can help students develop skills to support a peer who is grieving.

After a death, children are often concerned about their own health or the health of others close to them.
Important to help children deal with fears/concerns about the pandemic.
Social distancing measures, including school closures, increase social isolation and make it difficult to provide support.
Secondary losses become even more significant; family members may be overwhelmed by the pandemic as well as their own grief.
Children may experience multiple personal losses; deaths may impact the entire school community.
Some grief may not be related to death.
Supporting grieving students is challenging even in the best of times, and this is an unprecedented time, but there are practical steps school professionals can still take to support grieving students.