2019 - 202 0 A RESOURCE GUIDE TO GRIEF COUNSELING
Uncommon schools have a moral as well as a legal duty to safeguard the welfare of our
students. This handbook is designed to guide the Uncommon Counselor as they encounter the
individuals reacting to trauma-related grief during your work. Loss and grief are frequently
encountered issues in counseling that are inclusive of both death-related and non-death-related
circumstances. Despite substantial attention given to bereavement grief, nondeath-related losses
just as often present significant challenges in the lives of clients, “All changes involve loss, just
as all losses require change” (Niemeyer, 2000a, p.5). The experience of loss and grief is highly
individual and intensely personal, reflecting a unique interaction of a person, loss event, and the
multiple contexts in which that loss and grief occur. The difference between the two have less to
do with the fact of death and bereavement and more to do with the uniqueness of an individual’s
response to loss and his or her particular grieving journey. As a counselor, it is your job to
appreciate the uniqueness of each individual’s experience of loss and grief and his or her
particular manner of adapting to the loss. It is why we tailor each counseling strategies to the
needs of the client. If the experience of loss and grief is unique, then counseling interventions
that address those experiences must prioritize that uniqueness.
Whenever a person is encountered, who is experiencing severe reactions or complicating
conditions for which you feel unqualified to address, please consult with your clinical supervisor
and, when appropriate, refer out for more formal services.
*Grief counseling is not a one fit all model. This guide is not intended as a comprehensive
treatment manual in which a set of prescribed interventions that can be applied to every
student, family, or group. There is no laundry list of goals and objectives from which to pick
and choose and no stereotypical list of cultural characteristics that obscures individuality.
Instead, this guide describes a broad range of counseling strategies that are adaptable across
various theoretical orientations and includes practical suggestions for increasing their
effectiveness.
I hope that you will never have to use this handbook. However, should that time come I hope this
guide provides the support you need. – Alicia Wilson, LCSW, Clinical Supervisor