Grief counseling targets students

KILLEN - For students who've experienced the loss of a loved one, the Healing Place is offering counseling services through its Healing Hearts program, serving Colbert, Franklin and Lauderdale counties.

A group session at their school is designed to help students in grades kindergarten through 12 cope with death. The group can be up to 12 students or as few as one or two.

In a session this week at Brooks High School, Healing Place school program coordinator Karen Grisham met with two students, Paul and Sarah Lauridsen, whose father, Eric, died 18 months ago from cancer.

Paul, a seventh-grader, and Sarah, a junior, played a board game with Grisham where, with the roll of the dice, they moved along a path of grief stages including loss, feelings, challenges and new beginnings. After each roll of the dice, the two would take turns answering a question from each stage.

One of Sarah's questions was, "What can you do to feel better?"

"I talk to my mom and I've cried a lot," Sarah said.

Sarah talked about the sadness she felt in certain situations since the death of her father, such as at church. "He always took us, and I'm just not as comfortable as I was."

Sarah said she's just beginning to share her feelings.

"I've always taken dance (classes), and that's been a big help to me since my dad died; it feels good to express my feelings. I hope to get to a point where I can talk more about it."

Paul agreed that the sessions - there are a total of eight - are helping him talk about his dad's death more openly with family and friends.

With his keen sense of humor intact, Paul answered the question of how to express anger without getting into trouble with a quick, "You mean you can do that?"

"Sometimes I punch a pillow, you know, because things just don't always seem fair," he said.

Grisham said the sessions are 30 minutes long and provide an opportunity for the students to express their grief in a nonthreatening and comfortable setting.

"Kids grieve at each developmental level and no one can say when that grieving period is to end," Grisham said. "This program allows us to go to where the students are so they have an opportunity to work through that grief."

Kay Parker, director of The Healing Place, said the Healing Hearts program differs depending on the needs of the children. Last year, 160 children participated in the program in 22 schools.

Parker said school guidance counselors can call the Healing Place to request the sessions. Already, there have been success stories of students whose grades or behavior at school have vastly improved as the result of learning to cope with their grief issues.

For Sarah Lauridsen, the sessions have already proved valuable. She's coming to terms with her need to be happy again.

"This is our homecoming week at school, and I've been really excited about it," she said. "It doesn't bother me nearly as much now to admit that."

To request the school sessions call Parker at 383-7133.

Source: The Healing Place