Affiliation:
1. Refuge Counseling, LLC, USA
2. University of Houston-Clear Lake, USA
Abstract
Children represent an often-forgotten group of mourners. Helping professionals must be cautious about making assumptions regarding the inherent resilience of children. Moreover, helping professionals need to avoid minimizing the deleterious effects of grief on young clients. Grief impacts all children differently. Because children's grief often manifests differently than adults' grief, bereaved children can go underassessed and undertreated. Grief support groups in local school settings can be an efficacious way of supporting bereaved youth. The facilitative nature of peer support can promote healing through elements of universality and shared experiences. Due to their developmental level, students may benefit from knowing a fellow student has navigated something similar. In this chapter, the authors detail a grief support group model for mental health professionals tending to the unique mental health needs of bereaved youth.
Reference23 articles.
1. Developmental Manifestations of Grief in Children and Adolescents: Caregivers as Key Grief Facilitators
2. American School Counseling Association. (2022). 2022 ASCA code of ethics. ASCA. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/About-School-Counseling/Ethical-Responsibilities/ASCA-Ethical-Standards-for-School-Counselors-(1)
3. Understanding the Childhood Grief: What Should We Tell the Children?
4. Brown, J. C. (2021). An epidemic of violence. Fatal violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people in the United States in 2020. Human Rights Campaign. https://reports.hrc.org/an-epidemic-of-violence-fatal-violence-against-transgender-and-gender-non-confirming-people-in-the-united-states-in-2020?_ga=2.185816937.1993557673.1707439958-2145036884.1707439958
5. Childhood bereavement: Understanding prevalence and related adversity in the United States.