Helping Teens Work Through Grief

Rating:
Summary: A treasure trove of ideas and information on teen grief.
Review: I am writing this book review from the standpoint of an adult with many years of experience providing bereavement services, reflecting upon my own experience as a teenager grieving the death of a close family member. It is from this same vantage point that Mary Kelly Perschy has written Helping Teens Work Through Grief. In my case, it was my 19-year-old sister Bev who lost her life to cancer. At age 16, Ms. Perschy embarked on the journey of grief after the death of her mother. The fruit of her personal and professional experience is this most useful manual which she tells us, "is written for adults who are willing to connect with grieving teens, including counselors, trained hospice volunteers, religious youth staff, teachers and mentors."

Any Hospice Team, school or youth organization planning to offer bereavement support groups for teens will want to include this book in their library. Much of the information imparted could easily be adapted for work! ing individuallly with a teens as well.

The busy bereavement professional will be glad to discover that the nuts and bolts of initiating, organizing, leading and evaluating a group support program for young people are laid out in this book. The goals and objectives of each chapter are clearly outlined and the wealth of activities and other resource materials are easy to access. What is more, the reader is walked through each activity in detail, which is what makes this such a marvelous "how to" guidebook. I have found the symbolic "My Coat of Arms" a wonderful discussion tool with teens. Numerous other dynamics utilizing music, clay, drawing, painting, writing, movement and discussion are also included.

Ms. Perschy places a great deal of emphasis on the importance of creating a "safe place" for the grieving teen to share his/her loss with peers and shows us just how to go about it. There is also a welcome emphasis on the importance of wor! king with their children, and the use of peer facilitators ! as well as adults.

As a busy bereavement clinician and programmer, I was delighted to find a full chapter devoted to publicizing the group complete with sample press releases, fliers and forms. Equally gratifying are the detailed chapters on evaluation and follow-up.

Somewhat disappointing was Ms. Perschy's lack of direction on the optimum size of groups and the range of the ages. She likewise failed to take a definite stand on the number of sessions a group should run, preferring to leave that to each programmer's discretion.

The late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen once described teen years as a time of "temporary insanity". How much more out of control, crazy, and alone does a young person feel when a loved one dies? The crazy quilt image which the publisher has chosen for the cover of Ms. Perschy's book is an apt metaphor for teen grief. Adults who care enough about reaching out to troubled teens will find this manual a most useful tool.