There are several disciplines in school settings that play an essential role in assisting and supporting grieving students. The disciplines that school settings include school psychologists, teachers, school counselors, school nurses, school social workers, and administrators. Individuals in all three disciplines have different roles and functions in offering support to grieving students. However, it should be noted that the efforts undertaken by individuals in all these disciplines in offering support to grieving students are complementarily requiring effective collaboration and communication among members of these three disciplines. Besides, the roles of these disciplines in school settings have been emphasized by the fact that grief among children and students, in general, is common and have an impact on the overall psychological wellbeing and academic performance of students (Dyregrov et al., 2015).
Teachers and classroom educators play a significant role in their students’ lives as a result of the interactions between them. With this in mind, teachers play an essential role in providing support to grieving students. One of the functions undertaken by teachers to this end concerns the identification of grieving students. The identification of students undergoing grief is a vital role of the teachers and classroom educators as it helps to bring to the fore students and instances in which grief is present in learners (Borris, 2015). In some instances, it should be noted that students undergoing grief may choose to conceal their situation, resulting in detrimental psychological effects.
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Additionally, teacher and classroom educators also have an essential role in ensuring the provision of a learning environment that is supportive and accommodative to grieving students (Borris, 2015). In line with this role, teachers may restructure classroom activities in a manner that provides necessary support to grieving students while at the same time offering an opportunity for peers to render their support to grieving learners actively. Another vital function of the classroom educators is to refer grieving students to school psychologists or counselors for them to be offered professional guidance during the grieving period (Borris, 2015).
School administrators also have an essential role in supporting grieving students. Primarily, school administrators have to ensure that requisite support mechanisms are put in place within their schools. Moreover, administrators have to ensure that they support and coordinate efforts by various disciplines in school settings meant at providing support to grieving students (Borris, 2015) School nurses and social workers also play an essential role in providing support to grieving students. Essentially, one of the crucial roles of nurses and social workers in a school setting is to identify the wide variety of symptoms exhibited by grieving students. This is an essential role as through such identification, necessary initiatives to render support to grieving students can be promptly put in place. Moreover, nurses also have the responsibility of referring students who need help beyond what can be offered in a school setting.
During my studies, I have come to appreciate that school psychologists’ role in offering support to grieving students is enormous. In rendering support to grieving students, School psychologists have a unique role. Primarily, school psychologists are tasked with guiding families, schools, teachers, and peers to support grieving students. Besides, school psychologists are also tasked with offering teachers and classroom educators training to ensure that they are well prepared to handle and support grieving students (Schonfeld & Demaria, 2018). Besides offering requisite training to individuals in other disciplines, school psychologists are also involved in counseling grieving students. In practice, this is one of the core functions of school psychologists in school settings. In this regard, school psychologists help students understand what has happened by reinforcing the fundamental realities about death to them (Schonfeld & Demaria, 2018). This is an essential aspect as it serves to negate any misconceptions and decrease feelings of worry, guilt, and shame that might accompany the death of a loved one. Secondly, school psychologists also help students in expressing themselves concerning their grief. Lastly, school psychologists offer support to grieving students by offering assistance to grieving the parents or caregivers of the grieving students (Schonfeld & Demaria, 2018).
From the forenamed, it is evident that all the disciplines tasked with providing support to grieving students have to work collaboratively. With this in mind, adequate communication between members of these disciplines has to be fostered. Through adequate communication, the identification of grieving students and their referral to appropriate professionals will be heightened within school setups resulting in the prompt initiation of interventions to negate adverse effects associated with grieving among students (Brent et al., 2012). Secondly, through collaboration and enhanced communication, members of the different disciplines will be in a position to receive adequate training on how best to identify and provide the necessary support to grieving students. Additionally, by working collectively, members of the different disciplines ensure consistency in the support rendered to grieving students, which is a critical ingredient in ensuring favorable outcomes in grieving students.
In conclusion, the collaboration between members of the various disciplines in school settings starts with the identification of grieving students. In practice, classroom educators and school nurses are some of the members in a school setting who can quickly identify grieving students as a consequence of their frequent interactions. After the identification, members of these disciplines are obliged to offer necessary support to grieving students or refer them to the school psychologists if the cases are beyond their scope. On the other hand, school psychologists have to handle the refereed cases of grieving students and offer necessary support not only to them but also to members of their families. Besides, school psychologists have the role of training members of staff and students alike on how best to offer support to grieving students.
References
Borris, C. (2015). Coping with grief in the classroom. Scholastic Teacher. https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/coping-grief-classroom/
Brent, D. A., Melhem, N. M., Masten, A. S., Porta, G., & Payne, M. W. (2012). Longitudinal effects of parental bereavement on adolescent developmental competence. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 41(6), 778–791. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2012.717871
Dyregrov, A., Salloum, A., Kristensen, P., & Dyregrov, K. (2015). Grief and traumatic grief in children in the context of mass trauma. Current Psychiatry Reports, 17(6), 48. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-015-0577-x
Schonfeld, D., & Demaria, T. (2018). The role of school psychologists in the support of grieving children. School Psychology Quarterly, 33(3), 361-362. https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000286
