ABSTRACT
There are so many constituencies in need of the school counselor's attention in the immediate aftermath of the death of a student that it can be difficult to know what to do first and where to turn for direction. Consequently, the school counselor is in the unenviable position of needing to acknowledge his or her own reaction to the loss and process it in order to assist students and colleagues with the grief process, often with very little lead time. The death of faculty members presents its own special challenge. The loss of a leader has some special issues connected to it. What we found most helpful over the years was to have a crisis plan of action that the entire pupil personnel team (PPT)/Crisis Team was trained for and prepared to implement immediately. Ideally, the Crisis Team members who are providing grief counseling should be those already assigned to the school and those who are familiar to students.
