ABSTRACT
The death of a close family member or friend divides lives into “before” and “after.” In our swiftly moving culture, while adolescents are continuously exposed to horrific events, it is easy enough to click to another screen when they confront unwanted information or headlines. Death’s permanence, however, requires young people to reinterpret their world as they struggle to integrate a permanent loss. The process of grief and mourning is antithetical to all they know: grief takes time – a long time. There is no going back to how we were before a significant loss. One loss inevitably recalls other losses – grief piles up. The author describes leading a school through tragedy and comforting a grieving daughter, learning about how sorrow spools out and identifying how to help teenagers move forward into a new normal after the sudden death of a peer.
