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Professional School Counselors Address Grief and Loss: a Creative Group Counseling Intervention

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Professional School Counselors Address Grief and Loss: a Creative Group Counseling Intervention Article 66 Professional School Counselors Address Grief and Loss: A Creative Group Counseling Intervention Reshelle C. Marino, Mark D. Thornton, and Tyler Lange Marino, Reshelle C., is an assistant professor of counseling and clinical coordinator of school counseling at Southeastern Louisiana University. She is a board-approved supervisor in Louisiana, nationally certified counselor, and certified school counselor. Her areas of expertise include: supervision, counseling children, adolescents, and families, grief/loss, trauma, behavior disorders, and anxiety and panic disorders. Thornton, Mark D., is a licensed professional counselor and supervisor, certified school counselor, national certified counselor, and a part-time assistant professor of counseling at Xavier University of Louisiana. His areas of expertise include: clinical supervision, counseling children, adolescents, and families, grief/loss, trauma, and crisis intervention. Lange, Tyler, is a graduate student on the school counseling track at Southeastern Louisiana University. She is a full-time mental health specialist at Louisiana United Methodist Children’s Home where she works with children and adolescents who have experienced trauma, grief/loss, and have been diagnosed with behavioral disorders. She also serves on the executive board of the Southeastern chapter of Chi Sigma Iota as the treasurer and anticipates graduating from the master’s program in counseling in 2016. Abstract Children and adolescents experience many types of loss, and as a result, grief is often displayed within the school setting. Group counseling is an effective intervention for children and adolescents who experience grief and loss. Professional school counselors are highly trained and qualified to offer effective interventions within a group counseling format. Creative interventions are engaging and therapeutic, thus, serving as ideal interventions in which professional school counselors can offer group counseling sessions. Utilizing Marge Heegaard’s book, When Someone Very Special Dies: Children Can Learn to Cope With Grief, the authors will offer a brief overview of 11 group counseling sessions coupled with creative interventions for children and adolescents to address grief and loss in a school setting. Implications for student learning targets will be offered. Ideas and Research You Can Use: VISTAS 2015 Importance of Grief and Loss Work in Schools Many students experience some type of loss in their lives. Loss is often associated with the death of a loved one, but ambiguous loss is just as prevalent. Ambiguous loss is a type of loss that my not be recognized (Guidry, Simpson, Test, & Bloomfield, 2013; Mauk, 2011). Loss can be tangible or intangible and both types can cause physical, behavioral, cognitive, and emotional problems for the child who experiences loss (Guidry et al., 2013; Mauk, 2011). A child can experience loss through parental separation, divorce, illness of a loved one, relocation to a new home or school, break-up with a romantic partner, or the loss of a friendship or pet (Guidry et al., 2013; Mauk, 2011). Furthermore, the effects of grief can manifest through academic failure, acting out due to displaced anger, aggression, inappropriate risk-taking, runaway behaviors, sexualized behaviors, and/or substance abuse (Mauk, 2011). Grieving can disrupt a child’s normal functioning, but helping the child work through their emotions can foster emotional healing and restoration of the child’s overall health (Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA, 2008). The purpose of grief work in schools is to help children work through acceptance of the loss, experience the associated pain and emotion involved with the loss, adjust to life without the loved one, and find ways to remember their special someone in everyday life (Guidry et al., 2013). It is important to recognize that children do not grieve in the same way as adults (Massat, Moses, & Ornstein, 2008). Some do not follow a stage model of grief. Once such model is as follows (Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA, 2008): 1) Shock is the first reaction to the event where the person feels numb, physical pain, and/or withdrawal. 2) Denial happens when the grieving person acts as if nothing has happened and refuses to accept that his loved one is no longer with him. 3) Depression occurs through a prolonged period of painful feelings, despair, and emptiness. 4) Guilt occurs as the grieving person blames herself for the loss of her loved one. 5) Anxiety can manifest in a panic attack, which often happens when reality finally sinks in that their loved one is gone. 6) Aggression can be directed towards the person who might have prevented the loss or the lost object. 7) Reintegration is when the grieving person has accepted the loss as reality. But children oftentimes experience grief much differently. Similarly, Worden (2009) developed the Tasks of Mourning Model, which integrates four different tasks to successfully complete the work of mourning. The tasks are as follows: Task 1–To accept the reality of the loss on an intellectual and emotional level. Task 2–To process the pain and grief, which depends on the type of pain that is being experienced and the nature of the relationship with the deceased. Task 3–To adjust to a world without the deceased, which can be external (daily living), internal (finding oneself or redefining oneself), and spiritual (developing a new worldview). Task 4–To find an enduring connection with the deceased while embarking on a new life. The Tasks of Mourning Model encourages one to accept the loss, find a unique way to remain connected with the deceased, and learn to move forward (Worden, 2009). For children, grief is integrated in everyday tasks such as attending school, playing, and in other school-related activities (Guidry et al., 2013; Mauk, 2011). To some, it can seem like the child is even happy and unaffected by the event, but through play and other avenues, a child typically will express their pain and other emotions (Guidry, 2013). It is important for adults to have the ability to recognize when a child is 2 Ideas and Research You Can Use: VISTAS 2015 grieving. Some examples might include a child who has trouble sleeping at night or has nightmares, a child who often frequents the nurse’s office at school for a headache or stomachache, a child who is often easily distracted in class and daydreams, or a child that completely withdraws from peers and other adults in his/her life (Guidry, 2013; Massat et al., 2008). If we can learn to recognize that a child is grieving, we can learn how to best help the child cope with their feelings associated with grief and loss. If we advertently or inadvertently dismiss the child’s feelings, unresolved grief can lead to emotional and behavioral problems, in turn, impacting academic achievement (Mauk, 2011; Pérusse, 2009). According to Mauk (2011), a student can create emotional blocks to learning that can affect attention span and memory capacity, which can negatively affect overall academic performance. It is for the aforementioned reasons that there is a great need for grief and loss groups in the school environment. According to the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement (2006), schools must be well prepared to deal with and handle crises of all magnitudes. The school counselor’s role is essential in providing needed support for grieving students. One benefit of offering grief/loss groups within the school setting is to reach out to several young people in their time of need. Professional school counselors are in the ideal position to promote and support mental and emotional health while identifying the children that are dealing with grief/loss. Additionally, professional school counselors should adhere to the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model (2012), which promotes academic, career, and social/emotional development of all students (ASCA, 2012; Pérusse, 2009). In the delivery section of the ASCA National Model, there is an emphasis on providing direct student services. Direct services are to be delivered throughout the schools’ overall curriculum, including: guidance lessons within the classroom, individual student planning, and responsive services (ASCA, 2012). Within each counseling service provided, students are given information, knowledge, mindsets, behaviors and skills that are appropriate for the child’s individual developmental level. Services can range from individual counseling, small and large group counseling, family counseling, and classroom guidance lessons. These direct approaches are also utilized when counselors respond to a crisis situation in which the counselor meets the student’s immediate needs and concerns. These services are put in place to help students overcome issues that impede their academic achievement and overall school success. According the ASCA National Model (2012), the counseling process in a school setting is designed to help a student identify problems, causes, alternatives, and possible consequences so they can make decisions and take appropriate actions. Professional school counselors do not provide extensive therapy; rather, they provide brief treatment to assist the student back to wellness and healthy functioning (ASCA, 2012). It is for these reasons that a group counseling approach in a school setting is an appropriate intervention for grieving students. Despite the well-documented and supported benefits of group counseling for children and adolescents in the research,
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