Highmark Caring Places Hosts Students and Staff for Grieving Students Summit
Staff and student representatives from many of the western Pennsylvania region's participating schools gathered for the Highmark Caring Place's Caring Team for Grieving Students Summit, which enables hundreds of participants to visit and experience how the Caring Place supports grieving children and families onsite and in the schools.
The Highmark Caring Place provides services to kids and their families when they are experiencing the loss of a loved one. It is a safe environment in which participants are with peers who are also grieving and where they are able to express their feelings related to the death and to share memories of the person who died.
The program was from 10:15 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. with the goal to launch the annual campaign to energize, motivate and inspire local schools and students involved in efforts to support grieving children.
The school summit is meant to increase awareness about grieving in general and about the support services available at the Highmark Caring Place and give attendees the tools they need to support students and friends touched by loss.
Students, teachers, superintendents, guidance counselors, principals and school nurses attended the event. The individuals will play an integral role in supporting grieving students, including referring them and their families to the Highmark Caring Place, where they can benefit from the grief support services, educational presentations and resources offered there at no cost to the families.
Through the programs and services it offers to schools, the Highmark Caring Place helps to:
Raise awareness of the impact of death on students and on their need for support.
Increase the overall sensitivity of the school culture toward students who have had someone close to them die.
Increase the knowledge and skills of teachers and administrators in the area of child and adolescent bereavement and the impact of grief on students in the classroom and how to help them cope.
Increase the knowledge and skills of school students in how to provide support to their grieving classmates.