National Grief Awareness Day is Nov. 20

Nov. 20 is National Grief Awareness Day, a time to recognize the importance of supporting those who are coping with loss - including students who may be grieving while navigating school and everyday life.

Earlier this month, District 191 social workers and counselors took part in a Growing Through Grief professional development session with Park Nicollet to strengthen their ability to support students experiencing loss. The training helped staff become “grief-informed,” exploring how grief can affect children’s learning and behavior, and how to create compassionate school environments where students feel understood and supported.

“About one in 14 kids will experience the death of a parent or sibling before they turn 18,” said Nicole Barnes, program manager for Growing Through Grief. “Every teacher will have a grieving child in their classroom at some point, and we want to help schools build a culture where those students feel supported.”

During the training, participants practiced conversations with students about grief, explored books and artwork that help children express emotions and learned about community resources available to families. 

Kristin Bodin, school counselor at Hidden Valley Elementary, said the experience was valuable as staff continue this work within the district. 

“We learned more in-depth ways to support students who have experienced significant loss and help them achieve success in the school environment,” she said. “It’s about making sure no student has to face grief alone.”

District social workers and counselors will attend a second session of Growing Through Grief later this school year. 

“The second part will be almost all role-play where we go through the curriculum and each social worker will be trained as a facilitator to implement grief groups,” Barnes said. “Our hope is that the result at the end of this is no child and no school has to respond alone, that they all have the resources they need, because there are resources out there. We just need a culture that understands where they are and how to access them and when is the right time to implement them.”