School Counselor’s Perceptions of the Influence of Sudden Traumatic Loss on Secondary Urban Adolescents

When an adolescent has a traumatic experience, the impact of the incident may be manifested within the confines of the educational setting. Educators are then required to support the student as they attempt to handle the trauma. When a student experiences a sudden and traumatic loss (death) of a parent, family member, or close friend, they are not prepared to handle the trials that come with grief. Often, teachers are not equipped with best practices of trauma-informed teaching methodology in order to best meet the needs of traumatized adolescents. When students are unable to handle their challenges, they are typically sent to the school counselor for assistance and support. The purpose of this phenomenological research investigation was to identify the perceptions of secondary (middle and high) school counselors as they dealt with adolescents who are grieving sudden and traumatic deaths. Interviews of ten secondary school counselors in an urban school division served as the source of data collection. With the results of this study, the following seven themes were identified: (a) individual/personal factors affecting the impact of death, (b) grieving process/negative mental health reactions to death, (c) societal impacts/aspects, (d) interventions/treatment strategies, (e) contextual factors affecting the impact of death, (f) academic impacts, and lastly (g) barriers to process grief.