- One in twenty children across the country will experience the death of a parent before graduating from high school.
- One in five will experience the death of a family member.
- One in 750 high school students will die each year.
Cornerstone reaches out to support schools, including students, faculty and administration, in a number of ways. From traveling to schools to provide counseling and support to individual or groups of students through our In-School Counseling programs, to offering support during times of school crisis, including training teachers and staff to better meet the needs of their students through our Crisis Support and Training programs, Cornerstone of Hope’s trained and knowledgeable bereavement experts can help meet all your grief support needs.
In-School Counseling
When children face the loss of a loved one, such as a parent, sibling, or friend, the effects of unresolved grief can have a lasting impact. Children who experience the death of a parent, for example, are at higher risks for depression, poor school performance, a negative outlook on their future, low self-esteem, increased fear and anxiety, and less hope for their future.
Cornerstone of Hope can help support your students through our In-School Counseling Program. The program can be offered throughout the year to children both individually and in a group setting. Upon referral by a parent or teacher, Cornerstone’s Children’s Program Coordinator will travel to your school to meet with the child/children.* After an initial intake appointment, the Children’s Coordinator will work with the child/children as needed to assist them in moving through their grief.
The program utilizes various counseling methods, including traditional counseling and art therapy, to help children learn to externalize their thoughts, experiences, and feelings. The goal of the program is to assist children to successfully move through their grief and find healthy ways to readjust to life without their loved one. Children learn how to express their grief, develop problem solving and coping skills, and find the support of others who understand.
Cornerstone’s program provides professional-led grief support for children. Follow-up services and other counseling opportunities will also be made available to the student and his or her family as needed.
For more information, please contact Laura at Cornerstone of Hope at 216.524.HOPE(4673) or via email at Laura@cornerstoneofhope.org.
Crisis Training and Support
When children, who spend a significant amount of their day at school, are affected by a crisis such as a violent incident, car accident, suicide, terminal illness or the death of another student or faculty member, they need immediate and intense support from their schools. School personnel and counselors, therefore, need to be equipped to handle a child’s grief with the sensitivity, compassion, and expertise a child so desperately needs when a crisis occurs. The challenge is having enough trained and qualified people to meet the need.
Cornerstone of Hope can help by:
(1) Supporting: Cornerstone of Hope offers support to local schools by sending a trained crisis intervention team to the school in the event of a crisis affecting numerous students in the school.
Crisis teams are made up of guidance counselors, school psychologists, clergy, social workers and mental health workers whose goal is to meet the counseling needs of students that cannot be provided by one or two building counselors alone. Crisis teams provide a range of services, including Student Debriefing, Individual and Group Counseling, Classroom Presentations, Consultation with School Personnel (more information, below), and further support to the school’s existing crisis plan.
The Crisis Team provides enough trained and qualified people to meet the needs of an entire school community when a crisis occurs. In order to ensure the availability of a crisis team for your school district, we highly encourage staff members to join us for crisis training. For more information on how your staff can receive training as crisis team members, see below.
For more information about utilizing Cornerstone’s crisis services, please contact Laura at Cornerstone of Hope at 216.524.HOPE(4673) or via email at Laura@cornerstoneofhope.org.
Testimonials
(2) Training: Since 2004, Cornerstone of Hope has been working to form and train Crisis Counseling Teams in counties throughout Northeast Ohio. As part of our professional education services, Cornerstone will work with your school’s staff to train team members to respond to and provide such services as:
- Student Debriefing: Meeting with children individually or in a small group in order to identify their reactions to the loss, help them to understand those reactions, correct misperceptions, educate the children about possible future reactions, and suggest or teach positive coping skills.
- Individual Counseling: Meeting with a student who needs one-on-one support (and helping the student to follow up with additional support as needed).
- Group Counseling: When appropriate, group support will be made available to support children, using art therapy and other forms of therapy to help children learn to understand and express their grief.
- Classroom Presentations: For classes where a student or teacher in that class has died, Cornerstone’s staff will meet with and speak to the class about the loss, be available to answer questions, and help educate the children about grieving and obtaining support to deal with that grief.
- Consultation with School Personnel: Cornerstone will assist staff in making decisions regarding how to inform students about the death, identifying students at risk for intense grief reactions, setting up counseling opportunities at the school, provide assistance with communications to parents, supporting grieving children in the classroom, holding memorials, and addressing any other issues that might arise.
For more information on how your staff can help form/be trained as a crisis team, please contact Laura at Cornerstone of Hope at 216.524.HOPE(4673) or via email at Laura@cornerstoneofhope.org.
Testimonials
Please watch our videos on our School Crisis Response Team to learn more
* Exceptions may apply based upon location.
