School Psychology Quarterly
© 2018 American Psychological Association 2018, Vol. 33, No. 3, 361–362
1045-3830/18/$12.00
The Role of School Psychologists in the Support of Grieving Children
David J. Schonfeld
University of Southern California and Children’s Hospital Los
Angeles, Los Angeles, California
It is hard to imagine a more devastating event in the life of a
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
child than the death of a close family member or friend, which can
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
have a profound and lasting impact on the child’s social, emo-
tional, and academic development. Childhood grief experiences
have consistently been found to be associated with subsequent
social, behavioral, and mental health difficulties during adoles-
cence and adulthood (Abel et al., 2014; Brent et al., 2012; Draper
& Hancock, 2011; Høeg et al., 2018; Jacobs & Bovasso, 2009;
Melhem et al., 2011).
Children not only need to cope with the loss of the person who
died but they also need to deal with other significant disruptions
following the death, such as home and/or school relocations,
disruptions in family economic stability and social status, and
relationships with caregivers and other family members who are
also grieving. These challenges can extend the period of intense
mourning. Exposure to traumatic events and resource loss associ-
ated with the death can further complicate the process of bereave-
ment by diverting the focus of the child and their caregivers from
the loss of the loved one to the circumstances surrounding the
death (Blaze & Shwalb, 2009).
The prevalence of loss in childhood—with approximately 1 of
20 children experiencing the death of a parent and nine out of 10
experiencing the loss of a close family member or friend (Schon-
feld & Demaria, Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and
Family Health, & Disaster Preparedness Advisory Council,
2016)—is in stark contrast to the training of classroom educators.
Only a small percentage of educators report that they have had any
training on assisting grieving children and this lack of training is
the primary reason they avoid reaching out to and supporting
grieving students in their class (Reid & Dixon, 1999).
School psychologists are in a unique position to both identify
and work with grieving students; to provide guidance to schools,
families, and peers on approaches to support such children and
David J. Schonfeld, National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement,
Suzanne Dworak School of Social Work and Pediatrics, University of
Southern California, and Pediatric Department, Children’s Hospital Los
Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Thomas P. Demaria, Doctoral Psychol-
ogy Program, Long Island University Post, and National Center for School
Crisis and Bereavement, Suzanne Dworak School of Social Work and
Pediatrics, University of Southern California.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to David J.
Schonfeld, National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement, Suzanne
Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, University of Southern California,
1150 South Olive Street, Suite 1400, Los Angeles, CA 90015. E-mail:
schonfel@usc.edu
361
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/spq0000286
Thomas P. Demaria
Long Island University Post and University of
Southern California
youth; and to offer training to classroom educators so that they are
better prepared to support grieving students. Yet, there has been
minimal research published on this topic in professional journals.
This special section of School Psychology Quarterly is devoted to
grief and loss with the hope of beginning to narrow this gap in the
literature. Three articles provide important contributions to the
field. Osterhoof, Kaplow, and Layne, using a national survey
database of over 10,000 adolescents, demonstrated that sudden
loss was common among teenagers with the first experience usu-
ally occurring during the important transitional stage of mid-
adolescence. In addition to negatively impacting academic func-
tioning, the authors found associations of this loss with other
important indicators of school engagement and perception of sup-
port, including less enjoyment of school, lower school belonging-
ness, and lower beliefs that teachers treat youth fairly.
Sharp et al. explored the link between different sources of
school-based social support (friends, peers, and teachers) and
children’s grief and grief-related growth after the death of a sibling
from cancer. The authors found that support from teachers and
friends significantly moderated the association between parent
support and grief; specifically, support by teachers and peers
accentuated the positive effects of parent support. School-based
social support from friends, peers and teachers facilitated the
grieving students’ adjustment. These findings underscore the need
for ecological or system interventions in the school setting by
school psychologists to empower all those who have contact with
the grieving student to provide support.
The third article further explored relational factors involved in
providing support for grieving students. Gross and Lo used a
multimethod study design to study how Black male adolescent
students and their teachers in a private school setting interacted
around encounters with loss. Despite the desire by both students
and teachers to address their personal grief concerns in the school
setting, both groups felt their emotional needs were unacknowl-
edged at times. The authors observed that teachers generally felt
unprepared or unable to help others while grieving themselves and
being burdened with managing instructional demands. This over-
load may result in a reduction in teachers’ capacity to be attuned
to the individual needs of their students, which may result in the
students being punished for behaviors that are, in fact, expressions
of their grief. They concluded that relational strategies can be
effective for supporting grieving students and called on school
psychologists to act as the bridge in the vital alliance between
grieving students and teachers.
The conclusions that these articles collectively make—that grief
among children is common and can have a profound effect, that
 362 SCHONFELD AND DEMARIA
school-based social support including that of classroom educators
and peers can help ameliorate this negative impact, and that school
psychologists can play an important role in ensuring that teachers
are prepared to provide this support—isn’t surprising in that it
aligns with clinical impressions of those in the field (Schonfeld &
Quackenbush, 2010). But the field of childhood bereavement
needs research such as this to move beyond clinical impressions
and recommendations. Although these article are a good start, even
more is needed so that we can ensure that useful services are
ultimately provided to all grieving students.
The Coalition to Support Grieving Students began in 2013 as a
unique collaboration of the leading professional organizations rep-
resenting classroom educators, administrators, and student support
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
personnel (including school counselors, school nurses, school psy-
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
chologists, and school social workers) and over the past 5 years has
grown to include over 70 professional organizations, including
many of the most prominent education and health-related profes-
sional organizations. In 2015, the Coalition launched www
.grievingstudents.org to make publicly available a set of free
resources endorsed by all of these organizations, including over 20
video-based modules, guidance documents, and other print mate-
rials, as well as training tools, to empower school communities
across America in the ongoing support of their grieving students.
A child’s sense of safety, trust, and assumptive world are often
shattered by the death of a family member or close friend. School
psychologists can play a vital role in ensuring that there is con-
sistency in the messages provided to grieving children and families
and that support is offered by all members of the school commu-
nity. The articles in this special section add to an evolving
evidence-base that grief in children is common and the impact can
be profound, that school professionals can and should play a major
role in supporting grieving children, and that school psychologists
can play a key role in empowering classroom educators and other
school professionals so that no child in the future has to grieve
alone.
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Received July 31, 2018
Accepted August 5, 2018 䡲