Preparing children for trauma
A teachers' conference heard this week that all schools in Wales should have a bereavement policy to deal with an increase in pupil suicides and tragic deaths.
reports that good practice in dealing with young loss of life was passed on to school representatives by leading counsellors, including local authority bereavement support worker Ann Atkin, who is still counselling children traumatised after a road accident claimed the life of Prestatyn High pupil Thomas Harland, 15, and three other people in Abergele last year.
鈥淭he grief is still raw,鈥 Mrs Atkin tells TES. 鈥淚 take a group of 15 and 16-year-old boys who do not talk about their feelings readily. Some are still struggling to come to terms with their loss."