Teaching Elementary School Health Education/Mental and Emotional Health/Loss and Grief

Our students may lose a family member or friend close to them. Loss is a feeling that occurs when someone dies or a life situation changes or ends in a loss. Grief is intense emotional suffering caused by a loss, disaster, or misfortune. Some causes of loss and grief for our students may include:

• Change in the family (divorce, death of a family member, loss of job, serious or terminal illness)
• Changes in living conditions (eviction, homeless shelter)
• Death of a friend
• Suicide
• Death of a well-known person
• Tragedies in the news
• The end of something special (graduation, moving away)
• Holidays (Feelings of loss and grief can intensify during holiday seasons)

Click here for a lesson helping students deal with loss or grief. Responding to Social Crises