New Ideas Help Students Deal with Grief
By Brooke C.
Jeff Brain, Vice President for External Relations & Director of Admissions at The Family Foundation School, is putting a new spin on “Grief Group.”
Grief Group is one of Brain’s therapy groups at The Family School, and it has been undergoing some changes this month. Brainstorming sessions have produced new ideas for fun and interactive ways for students in the group to deal with their grief and remember and honor those they have lost.
In one activity the group wrote letters to their lost loved ones, put them in helium filled balloons, tied all the balloons together, and let them go. From the top of Chapel Hill, they watched the balloons fly over the school, up the side of a mountain, and disappear from sight. During the exercise, the group had fun putting stickers on unused balloons, blowing them up, and then popping them. However, when everyone took a moment of silence, they realized the therapeutic value of what they had done and the effect that it had.
Amanda W., a member of the grief group for a year and a half, said, “I think that [the new activities] are useful and that it will help us deal with our grief better and will help us come to acceptance.” Matt W., who is in the group, commented on the way Brain works, saying, “He goes out of his way to help others, and if somebody’s having a hard time he stops what he’s doing to help them out.”
Rob W., another member, added, “Jeff has a good sense for helping kids. He gets us out of ourselves and connects us with our lost loved ones through spirituality and cool bonfires.”
The activities have given the students the ability to better deal with difficult feelings and help them have fun while relating to life problems.
