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Addressing Death and Grief

Addressing Death and Grief. When Death and loss impact the school community. Axe Murder at the Edge of Campus High profile death of parent. Major Events. Lock down per police request Counselor team heads to the gym Write down each kids name and what they saw

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Addressing Death and Grief

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  1. Addressing Death and Grief When Death and loss impact the school community

  2. Axe Murder at the Edge of Campus • High profile death of parent Major Events

  3. Lock down per police request • Counselor team heads to the gym • Write down each kids name and what they saw • Counselors meet with Senior Admin • Counselor calls the parents of all the kids in the gym class. • Email from the head of School How we responded

  4. Follow up throughout the year • Addressing the fantasy and the reality • Poems, essays, etc. • Continued tons of communication from Admin to parents • Extended Time off for the Teacher who witness and managed the initial response How we responded

  5. What we did well • Focus on communication • Lots of communication and interaction with kids ongoing • What we could have done better • Better Training for Staff Development

  6. ART: create collages • HISTORY: put event in historicalcontext • ENGLISH: journaling or poetry • SCIENCE: understanding brain chemistry causing psychotic bipolar • MATH: maps area of incident • MUSIC: relaxation music to manage stress • GYM: yoga On-going tasks for teachers

  7. No written Crisis response • Senior Admin have lots of experience so there is a protocol • Tom calls mary 10 minutes after the death • We ask permission for all communication • Tons of communication • Head of school writes and edit and reviews by 3-4 people Our Response

  8. Anniversary was also a challenge • Many middle school kids traumatized ie. What if my mother was killed or died as many have no experience with death • Could that happen to me • Lots of loose talk about death • Between May 2012 abd April 2013 we had 7 parents die including Kathy Goertzen • SAAS has 3 permanent counselors • Our media spokesperson, former Seattle Sonics Media man Supporting Students

  9. Need more training in how to communicate with students in crisis events, particularly for MS students • Many of our young exuberant staff have great relationships with younger kids but don’t have skills for crisis mode. • Need to learn to Hear, care and listen then become part of the counselor team • Should have a written crisis plan Our Improvement

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