Supporting Schools in the Aftermath of Crisis

Supporting Schools in the Aftermath of Crisis

Children’s bereavement centers/programs/providers can play an important role in supporting a school after a major crisis event due to school or community violence.  The following topics will be covered: how you and your center/program can prepare for consultation in this context; practical advice and support that can be provided to staff, students, and families;  clarifying the distinction between trauma and grief; the potential goals of grief support in schools; providing training and professional development to educators on how to support grieving students using freely available resources; considerations related to commemoration and memorialization; and promoting staff support and professional self-care for educators.  Guidance on when and how to seek additional support, including partnering with the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement, during short- and long-term recovery will be discussed.  The session will also address how to advise schools and caregivers on how to talk to children who are only indirectly impacted by violence through the news or social media.  Ample time will be provided for questions and discussion.

 


Continuing Education (CE) credits are not available for webinar playbacks.
Target Audience: Counselors, Social workers, Bereavement support professionals
Instructional Level: Intermediate – This best describes a topic or issue that the audience likely has a theoretical foundation for understanding and/or a working knowledge
Format: Live Interactive Webinar

Not currently a member? Become a NACG member today! Your membership will provide access to free monthly webinars with CEs on current topics to support you in your work, discounts on educational events, access to all webinar playbacks, and more. To learn more and become a member to access this webinar for no additional cost, visit HERE →

 

Objectives:

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

  • Describe your program’s goal and strategy for consultation to schools after a crisis involving school or community violence.
  • Outline practical advice and support that can be provided to staff, grieving students, and their families in this context.
  • List 2-3 appropriate goals for training of educators to support grieving students and freely available training materials.
  • Describe when and how to partner with the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement or similar resource to support short- and long-term recovery within the school.
  • Advise schools and caregivers on how to talk to children indirectly impacted by violence through news or social media.

 

Speaker Bio:

David J Schonfeld, MD, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician, founded the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement (www.schoolcrisiscenter.org) at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The NCSCB coordinates the Coalition to Support Grieving Students which is comprised of over 140 professional organizations representing educators, medical professionals, and other interested groups.  For 35 years, he’s supported schools/communities after crises and loss, including the COVID-19 pandemic, shootings/stabbings in Winder, GA, Parkland, FL, Santa Clarita, CA, Newtown, CT, Las Vegas, NV, Aurora, CO, & Osaka, Japan; hurricanes Helene (TN), Maria (San Juan), Sandy (NYC/NJ), Katrina (New Orleans), & Ike (Galveston); tornadoes in Joplin, MO & Alabama; wildfires in Maui, HI, Butte & Sonoma Counties, CA, Sevierville, TN; & Sichuan, China earthquake.  His school-based research (e.g., funded by NICHD, NIMH, NIDA, MCHB, WT Grant) involves children’s understanding of and adjustment to serious illness and death and school-based interventions to promote adjustment and risk prevention.  He is Chair of National Advisory Committee on Children and Disasters and a member of the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Children and Disasters, and former Commissioner for the National Commission on Children and Disasters and Sandy Hook Advisory Commission.

 

New York Life Foundation logo

Supported by the philanthropic investment
of the New York Life Foundation.

 

Continuing Education (CE) Provider Information →

Using Fictional Characters to Help Children and Adolescents Who Are Grieving Live Interactive Webinar

Reading about fictional characters’ grief and loss experiences can help children and adolescents deal with their own grief and loss. Many stories written for children and adolescents, like the Harry Potter books, are filled with loss and death. But literature, like magic, can open new worlds for people, and show many possible ways to survive losses and challenges and even flourish beyond them. Using reading and storytelling to help improve a person’s mental health is often referred to as bibliotherapy. This session will present activities based on J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series to help children and adolescents deal with grief and loss, as well as activities based on other books to help children who are grieving (including Everett Anderson’s Long Goodbye, Charlotte’s Web, Where the Red Fern Grows, and The Hunger Games). The session’s goal is to give participants many practical individual and group activities, including discussion questions, worksheets, and crafts, that can help children who are grieving.

members only iconThis playback is available to active NACG members only.

Members must be logged into the member portal to access the playback. Not currently a member? Become a NACG member today! Your membership will provide access to free monthly webinars with CEs on current topics to support you in your work, discounts on educational events, access to all webinar playbacks, and more. To learn more and become a member to access this webinar for no additional cost, visit HERE →

 

Continuing Education (CE) credits are not available for webinar playbacks.
Target Audience: Counselors, Social workers, Bereavement support professionals
Instructional Level: Basic – This best describes a topic or issue that the prospective audience is encountering for the first time in a meaningful way.
Format: Live Interactive Webinar

 

Objectives:

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

  • Summarize how bibliotherapy can help children and adolescents who are grieving.
  • Describe how reading the fictional works presented may help children who are grieving.
  • Discuss specific activities using fictional characters that may be helpful for specific age levels and situations of children who are grieving.

 

Speaker Bios:

Kathryn Markell, PhD teaches Child and Adolescent Development and Death and Dying classes at Anoka-Ramsey Community College. She has published and presented scholarly work on how to help grieving children and adolescents, including co-authoring the book “The Children Who Lived: Using Harry Potter and Other Fictional Characters to Help Grieving Children and Adolescents”.

Marc Markell, PhD teaches at Worsham College of Mortuary Science; he is also a professor emeritus at St. Cloud State University. He teaches Death Education for non-grieving children. Marc is a certified Thanatologist and Death and Grief Studies. He presents locally, nationally, and internationally. Marc has published three books on grief, as well as book chapters and numerous articles.

 

New York Life Foundation logo

Supported by the philanthropic investment
of the New York Life Foundation.

Children and Funerals Webinar

*This playback is available to active NACG Members Only.

Camp Heroes: Creating a Center-Based Expressive Arts Camp

*This playback is available to active NACG Members Only.