The disruption of learning during a pandemic affected all students and educators the last couple years. For quite a few students, however, academics and school routines were also affected by something from which there is no quarantine: grief.
“Unfortunately, students in our little community have suffered a great deal of loss,” Hamilton Heights High School Counselor Jessica Cantlon told the Cicero Kiwanis Club audience at the Aug. 6 meeting.
Fortunately, Cantlon, along with all Hamilton Heights school counselors and Early Intervention Advocates, have participated in specialized training to meaningfully support students through the grieving process. The grief support program is called BP8 and is offered through Brooke’s Place, a center for grieving youth, established in 1999. Though Brooke’s Place offers grief support services for anyone who comes to the center, Heights’ counselors saw few people go to its Indianapolis location to participate.
After going through the training, Cantlon formed the first BP8 program at Heights High School last spring. Students’ reactions, comments, and observed growth “were a blessing to witness,” and Cantlon says she is excited to begin the second program next month. BP8 also will be launched at the middle schools this fall and used to enhance the Gathering Place grief support group at the elementary school. Having this grief-support program at school is convenient and allows the school community to reach out to grieving students in more meaningful ways than without the program.
All Hamilton Heights School Counselors and Early Intervention Advocates have participated in the Brooke’s Place grief support facilitator training. The most recent group includes (back row, fifth to seventh from the left) Chelsea Pacheco (HHMS), Tricia Rudy (HHES) and MaryAnn Haymaker (Heights Youth Assistance). Sabrina Duncan (HHMS) is in the front row, second from right. (Photo provided)
Joining Cantlon in the presentation to Kiwanis were Tricia Rudy, the elementary school counselor, and Toby Etchison, Tony Etchison Memorial Foundation board member, who shared their perspectives on the program. For Rudy, the training equipped her to sit in grief with a student and not have to provide answers for them. Showing compassion toward and acceptance of each student’s grief journey is healing. Both Cantlon and Rudy mentioned how BP8 gave counselors and students a support structure across the schools, because they were all following the same program.
Etchison shared her support and appreciation for the program as a parent whose sons have benefited from participating at the high school after their father – and Toby’s husband Tony – died in a farming accident. Attending the eight-week support group helped her sons’ express emotions they didn’t discuss with her. Additionally, her own parents had long been involved with Brooke’s place.
BP8 emphasizes that a person’s journey through grief is individual. It also can look different because of culture, religion, and families. Grieving isn’t a gradual, straight line toward healing. Everyone faces it. In fact, one in seven children experience the death of a parent, sibling or close loved one by age 20.
More than 24,000 children and their families have been supported by Brooke’s Place programs. More information about Brooke’s place can be found at brookesplace.org.
About the Cicero Kiwanis
The Cicero Chapter of the Kiwanis International as a part of a non-profit global organization with members who are dedicated to changing the world, one child and one community at a time. In the greater Cicero-area community, the Cicero Kiwanis provide scholarships to local high school students, support local schools through donations to various programs and manpower, provide food and assistance to local food pantries, support families and individuals in need or in crisis and help the community-at-large through donations to Riley’s Children’s Hospital. Weekly meetings begin at 7:30 a.m. on Saturdays at the Red Bridge Community Park Building in Cicero.