{"id":17707,"date":"2015-09-16T14:25:08","date_gmt":"2015-09-16T14:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/2015\/09\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T12:22:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:22:36","slug":"helping-students-learn-through-grief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping Students Learn Through Grief"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Originally published September 2018&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By Meagan Gillmore<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Teachers are often first responders to tragedy. They work with students who are experiencing individual loss, or processing large-scale crises, like natural disasters, shootings, or vehicle collisions. Teachers need to be prepared for how to handle these situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes, adults assume children are too young to experience grief. That\u2019s not true, says Colleen Mousseau, a registered psychotherapist and grief counsellor at the <strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/drjaychildrensgriefcentre.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Jay Children\u2019s Grief Centre<\/a><\/span><\/strong> in Toronto, ON, an organization that works exclusively with children and their families through dying, death, and grief. The organization receives many referrals from teachers, Mousseau says.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-woocommerce-memberships-member-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"woocommerce\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"woocommerce-info wc-memberships-restriction-message wc-memberships-message wc-memberships-content-restricted-message\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3>Subscribe to Keep Reading<\/h3>\r\n<p>\ud83d\udd11 You\u2019re one step away from unlocking premium content.<br>\r\nSubscribe now for as low as $5.99 and get full access!<\/p>\r\n<p><a class=\"btn\" href=\"\/product-category\/subscription\/\">Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p><small>If you\u2019re already subscribed, please <a href=\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/my-account\/\">Log In<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\t\t    <\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes, adults assume children are too young to experience grief. But if you\u2019re capable of feeling love, you\u2019re capable of feeling loss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":16673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2958,2967],"tags":[3475,3476,3477,3478,3088,3479,3480,3481],"class_list":{"0":"post-17707","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"category-sel","9":"tag-death","10":"tag-emotions","11":"tag-grief","12":"tag-loss","13":"tag-mental-health","14":"tag-tragedy","15":"tag-trauma","16":"tag-triggers"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Helping Students Learn Through Grief - TEACH Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sometimes, adults assume children are too young to experience grief. But if you\u2019re capable of feeling love, you\u2019re capable of feeling loss.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Helping Students Learn Through Grief\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sometimes, adults assume children are too young to experience grief. But if you\u2019re capable of feeling love, you\u2019re capable of feeling loss.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TEACH Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/teachmag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-16T14:25:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-25T17:22:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/helping_students_web.png?_t=1764091356\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"393\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Meagan Gillmore\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Helping Students Learn Through Grief\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Teachers are often first responders to tragedy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@teachmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@teachmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Meagan Gillmore\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Meagan Gillmore\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b8002e2b1bb208879ca0dab40e86d0bb\"},\"headline\":\"Helping Students Learn Through Grief\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-16T14:25:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-25T17:22:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/\"},\"wordCount\":1230,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/helping_students_web.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Death\",\"Emotions\",\"Grief\",\"Loss\",\"Mental Health\",\"Tragedy\",\"Trauma\",\"Triggers\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Mental Health and Well-being\",\"Social-Emotional Learning\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/\",\"name\":\"Helping Students Learn Through Grief - TEACH Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/helping_students_web.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-16T14:25:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-25T17:22:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b8002e2b1bb208879ca0dab40e86d0bb\"},\"description\":\"Sometimes, adults assume children are too young to experience grief. But if you\u2019re capable of feeling love, you\u2019re capable of feeling loss.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/helping_students_web.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/helping_students_web.png\",\"width\":750,\"height\":393},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Helping Students Learn Through Grief\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/\",\"name\":\"TEACH Magazine\",\"description\":\"Education for Today and Tomorrow | L&#039;Education Aujourd&#039;hui et Demain\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b8002e2b1bb208879ca0dab40e86d0bb\",\"name\":\"Meagan Gillmore\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Author-Avatar.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Author-Avatar.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Meagan Gillmore\"},\"description\":\"Meagan Gillmore is a freelance writer in Toronto, ON.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/author\/meagan-gillmore\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Helping Students Learn Through Grief - TEACH Magazine","description":"Sometimes, adults assume children are too young to experience grief. But if you\u2019re capable of feeling love, you\u2019re capable of feeling loss.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Helping Students Learn Through Grief","og_description":"Sometimes, adults assume children are too young to experience grief. But if you\u2019re capable of feeling love, you\u2019re capable of feeling loss.","og_url":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/","og_site_name":"TEACH Magazine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/teachmag","article_published_time":"2015-09-16T14:25:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-25T17:22:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":393,"url":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/helping_students_web.png?_t=1764091356","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Meagan Gillmore","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Helping Students Learn Through Grief","twitter_description":"Teachers are often first responders to tragedy.","twitter_creator":"@teachmag","twitter_site":"@teachmag","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Meagan Gillmore","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/"},"author":{"name":"Meagan Gillmore","@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b8002e2b1bb208879ca0dab40e86d0bb"},"headline":"Helping Students Learn Through Grief","datePublished":"2015-09-16T14:25:08+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-25T17:22:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/"},"wordCount":1230,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/helping_students_web.png","keywords":["Death","Emotions","Grief","Loss","Mental Health","Tragedy","Trauma","Triggers"],"articleSection":["Mental Health and Well-being","Social-Emotional Learning"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/","url":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/","name":"Helping Students Learn Through Grief - TEACH Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/helping_students_web.png","datePublished":"2015-09-16T14:25:08+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-25T17:22:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b8002e2b1bb208879ca0dab40e86d0bb"},"description":"Sometimes, adults assume children are too young to experience grief. But if you\u2019re capable of feeling love, you\u2019re capable of feeling loss.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/helping_students_web.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/helping_students_web.png","width":750,"height":393},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/helping-students-learn-through-grief\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Helping Students Learn Through Grief"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/","name":"TEACH Magazine","description":"Education for Today and Tomorrow | L&#039;Education Aujourd&#039;hui et Demain","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b8002e2b1bb208879ca0dab40e86d0bb","name":"Meagan Gillmore","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Author-Avatar.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Author-Avatar.jpg","caption":"Meagan Gillmore"},"description":"Meagan Gillmore is a freelance writer in Toronto, ON.","url":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/author\/meagan-gillmore\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17707"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31884,"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17707\/revisions\/31884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}