Supporting Children Through Grief: Practical Strategies and Self-Care for Teachers

Hayley Rice will give an overview of grief and loss with relation to developmental stages of children will be given as a means of introducing this topic. Emphasis will be given to the importance of teacher self-care during times of loss in the classroom, including ways to become aware of personal triggers.

Hayley will discuss

• Insight in to how children may present if a loved one is ill, dying or has died will then be discussed using real life examples. The impact on learning and an understanding of the neurobiological changes that take place in times of distress will be outlined.
• Best practices for communication with parents, the child, the class and the school community will then be presented. This includes addressing the common questions teachers have such as ''should I mention it to the child?", "should I/ when should I tell the class?", "What do I say when they come back to school?", "should I contact the parents?", "what do I do if the child becomes emotional?".
• Practical tools to help children with the range of emotions they may experience will they be presented. This will be broken down into the areas of whole school and classroom teacher/ support teacher's roles.