Responding to Loss and Bereavement in Schools: A Training Resource to Assess, Evaluate and Improve the School Response

About the Book

This practical resource provides everything you need to enable your school to provide the best possible support for pupils and staff who have suffered a loss or bereavement.

The book includes a school 'audit' to allow full assessment and evaluation of your school's current bereavement provision, and a full set of photocopiable training exercises for in-school staff bereavement training. It considers the important and unique role the school can play in supporting bereaved pupils and staff, and provides valuable guidance on how to create a school bereavement policy.

A unique and accessible resource that is applicable to all levels of schooling, the book will be a valuable addition to the shelves of pastoral care teams, school counsellors, head teachers and school management, other school staff, bereavement counsellors and trainers, as well as psychologists.

Table of Contents:
Introduction. Part 1. The Role of the School. Part 2. The School Audit. Part 3. The Exercises.

About the Author :
John Holland is a chartered educational psychologist and associate fellow of the British Psychological Society, with HPC registration. He provides training and support in the area of helping schools and other organisations to respond to the needs of children and young people who have experienced loss. John is the author of Understanding Children's Experiences of Parental Bereavement and co-author of Lost for Words, also published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. John lives in York, UK.

Review :
John Holland's newest resource, Responding to Loss and Bereavement in Schools, is an invaluable tool for training educators. Its practical and comprehensive style heightens understandings necessary to assess, evaluate, and improve the school's response to the loss and bereavement of their students. It clearly explains issues of loss and the importance of gathering and planning for loss, and provides pre-training information, useable exercises for classroom teachers, and guiding principles to work with. Responding to Loss and Bereavement in Schools will assuredly be a cherished resource for school personnel working with bereaved students. I highly recommend it! John Holland writes in a very accessible way with the wisdom that comes from years of experience in the field of bereavement. This welcome addition to the literature gives schools a comprehensive understanding of the needs and responses of children, families and schools at a time when staff may feel hesitant about their capacity to offer support. The clear information, activities and reflections should dispel some of the mystique and anxiety surrounding the topic of bereavement. If I had any type of leadership role in school I would want the thinking and experience of John Holland. This excellent book will guide you to create the right support package unique to the many types of loss and bereavement that schools encounter on a daily basis. Attending to these losses, big and small, helps to shape the personality of a school well beyond the measures of league tables.