Today I wanted to share one of my most important counseling tools: My Emergency Grief Kit. You might be wondering what an Emergency Grief Kit is and why I feel like it’s sssssoooo important!!! Basically my Emergency Grief Kit is a bag/backpack with everything I need to help students with the loss of a loved one at school.  If I get a call tomorrow morning that a student or teacher has died, then I need to be prepared. I won’t have time to go to work and gather all of my materials and plan.  My Emergency Grief Kit is ready to go. I can set up a grief station in a school within minutes and train teachers on the spot. I’m ready to go!! You just never know when something tragic is going to happen so set aside an hour today to set up your Emergency Grief Kit. It’s easy and I’ve got most of the materials ready for you already!!

As we begin to talk about grief I want to emphasize one thing: never underestimate the power of reflection and the power of silence. As counselors we’re taught a hundred different techniques. We’re trained in special theories and we feel like to be the best counselor we have to use these higher level techniques.

Grief groups are incredibly important for our students. They provide students with an opportunity to safely express their grief and to understand that they’re not alone in their struggles. As students begin to trust each other in group, they begin to express their inner struggles and work through their grief. Creating grief groups in schools will not only help the students but it will also save school counselor’s time. Groups allow school counselors to meet with multiple students at once, making them more time effective and beneficial to students at the same time.

The holidays can be so hard for our students who are struggling with grief. Everyone around them is celebrating and they’re in pain missing their loved one. This is a wonderful little lesson I did with my grief group right before the holidays.

Y’all know me, I’m always trying new things in my counseling office!! This week I did this grief self-exploration house with my grief group kiddos and I think it went really well!! The self-exploration house orignated from DBT (Dialectal Behavior Therapy) and has been adapted for this lesson to focus specifically on my student’s grief journey. DBT focuses on staying in the present (not focusing on the past), developing healthy coping skills, regulating emotions, and improving relationships with others. The self-exploration house is considered a DBT technique that helps clients express their strengths and support systems, while also highlighting areas of growth.

The box and ball grief activity is actually one of my new favorite grief activities. I first read about the box and ball grief activity while I was researching new activities for my grief group. At first I wasn’t sure how to use this activity in my grief group but the questions I’ve created have made this acitivity quite powerful. The types of conversations that come from this activity always impress me.