Understanding Student Grief

Experiences of Loss

• Experiences of loss are normal and essential in human life, allowing individuals to change, develop, and fulfill their innate human potential.
• Loss can be planned, expected, or sudden, and can be beneficial or devastating and debilitating.
• Examples of necessary losses accompanying growth include:
  • Abandoning a favorite blanket or toy
  • Leaving a first-grade teacher
  • Giving up the adolescent hope of becoming a famous rock star

Grief and Bereavement

• Grief refers to the subjective emotions and affect that are a normal response to the experience of loss.
• Bereavement, also known as grieving, refers to the process by which a person experiences the grief.
• Bereavement involves not only the content (what a person thinks, says, and feels) but also the process (how a person thinks, says, and feels).
• All people grieve when they experience life’s changes and losses.

Types of Grief

• Anticipatory grieving: when people facing an imminent loss begin to grapple with the possibility of the loss or death in the near future.

Mourning

• Mourning is the outward expression of grief.
• Rituals of mourning include:
  • Having a wake
  • Sitting shiva
  • Holding religious ceremonies
  • Arranging funerals

Test your knowledge on student grief and loss with this quiz. Learn about the normal experiences of loss and the stages of growth and development. Explore the concept of letting go and moving on as a necessary passage in life.