School Improvement Episode 56: Grief and loss education in the secondary years

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Hello and welcome to the Teacher podcast – I’m Jo Earp.

Improving students’ academic achievement goes hand-in-hand with supporting their health and wellbeing. So, meeting students’ individual needs may mean building partnerships with other organisations, for example, and seeking outside expertise – so, that could be in the form of specialist referrals or perhaps interventions. At your own school, then, you might have a dedicated Wellbeing Team, alongside specialist support staff who’ve maybe been trained in particular evidence-based programs and approaches. In Episode 56 of our School Improvement series, we’ll be talking about grief and loss education. I’ve got insights from 3 great guests today. I’ll be chatting to Yogesh Mani, Principal of Goulburn High School in New South Wales, and Angela Bubalo, a School Support Officer at Goulburn. Angela is a trained ‘Companion’ in the MacKillop Seasons, Seasons for Life initiative. So, I’ll be chatting to Yogesh and Angela about why it’s a priority area for their school and about some of the work they’re doing there with students. But, before we do that, we’ll get some context first about Seasons for Life from Keeva Mostyn, who’s the National Project Lead for the initiative – so she’s the first voice that you’ll hear. I hope you enjoy the episode.

Keeva Mostyn: The Seasons for Growth program, as well as the related Stormbirds natural disaster program, are small group evidence, informed education interventions for children and young people from the ages of 6 to 18. And the primary goal of these programs is to really support children and young people to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to really help them understand and manage their experiences of change, loss and grief, as well as to connect with others going through similar experiences. This goal is central to fostering emotional literacy and resilience as a pathway to improved social and emotional wellbeing.

One of the key factors that the program provides is a really safe learning environment for children and young people, and with that environment they can then start to explore the program. And some of the key aspects of the program really help children to acknowledge their experiences and recognise that they aren't the only one; to understand that their feelings and other behavioural reactions are normal and natural; to develop skills for coping; positive choices; goal setting and decision making; and also, to build a peer network and feel a sense of belonging and connection.

MacKillop Seasons, we train professionals in schools and community organisations to really facilitate the program with children and young people, and by doing so we build the knowledge and grief literacy of those trusted adults who are working and supporting those children and young people every day. It's a bit of a train the facilitator model – or we call people once they've trained in the program ‘Companions’. And this really allows schools to embed the program as part of their school culture; these are people that are familiar to the young people and children. And the go-to resource also allows for the program to be delivered in an ongoing way for students in the future.

JE: So, Keeva, how has the landscape changed over the years, then, in terms of how we think about student and staff welfare in school education, but also how we have those discussions around suicide, and grief and loss?

KM: So, the Seasons for Growth program was actually first developed in the mid-90s to support children and young people’s experiences of change and loss. And in Australia at the time family separation rates were of concern, and there was a significant lack of Australian evidence-informed educational resources or programs to support children and young people and their families as they navigated those changes. So, over all of this time, the Seasons for Growth program has supported children and young people attending for many different reasons, and the program has been adapted in partnership with Distinguished Professor Anne Graham to support many of these different experiences.

Seasons for Growth recognises that grief can be associated with a really broad array of changes and losses, and that might include things like family separation or the death of a loved one, but also things like the death of a pet, changes in friendships, relocation of home or school, forced migration, incarceration, natural disasters, COVID lockdowns, or living in care.

The experience in schools has changed also – schools have so many competing demands and are really busy places for staff and for students. Schools are really well aware of the importance and the need to support, you know, the mental health and the wellbeing of students and we can see that in their commitment in this space. And there are many wellbeing program panels that now identify evidence-informed programs and resources to support children and young people.

The landscape of supports for schools regarding suicide prevention and postvention, this really continues to evolve, with school networks adopting systems and resources to ensure a school is really well supported. This support can come from within the school network or from other sources, like Headspace Schools & Communities, and Be You teams, which can provide really fantastic postvention planning, as well as immediate postvention support for schools.

JE: So, you’re working with the schools – the leaders and the staff at different schools. But there’s also lots of expertise from the wider community involved in this particular initiative, isn’t there?

KM: Yes, absolutely. The work at MacKillop Seasons is never done in isolation. It's always done in a relational way and in a way that is grounded in evidence and research. And so, for the Seasons for Life initiative, it was really looking at the evidence in relation to protective factors against suicide for young people, as well as, what are some of the factors that really support a young person if they may be bereaved by suicide? And some of these factors include things like their relationships at home and at school, their family life, their quality of their friendships, as well as things like that sense of belonging and agency, as well as, you know, opportunities to develop knowledge and learn about grief and loss.

So, we collaborated with Distinguished Professor Anne Graham, out of the Centre for Children and Young People at Southern Cross University, to [develop] a wraparound model for schools to really strengthen the capacity and the grief literacy of young people, but also the adults that walk alongside those young people both at home and at school.

We've also been extremely fortunate to gather together a national Advisory Committee – it's been really critical in guiding us in this work and we've had some really amazing people join that committee. And, we have representation from the Department of Education, Independent and Catholic schools, as well as the Head of Headspace Schools & Communities. We have people like Megan Mitchell, former National Children's Commissioner; Allan Sparkes, a former Mental Health Commissioner; Professor Martin Nakata, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at JCU; and of course, Distinguished Professor Anne Graham. There's more, I could name them all, but we also have Associate Professor Sarah Wayland and Professor Myf Maple from the

University of New England, who are completing an evaluation not only of the program but of the Seasons for Life initiative as a whole.

JE: So, that was Keeva Mostyn with some background about the Seasons for Life initiative. Now, it’s part of the health and wellbeing support that’s offered to students at Goulburn High School – so, we’re looking at it in the context of secondary students today. As I say, Yogesh Mani is the Principal, and I started our chat by asking him to tell me a bit more about the school and the community it serves.

Yogesh Mani: Yeah, Goulburn High School is one of the oldest schools in New South Wales. It's located in regional New South Wales. Goulburn is a beautiful regional town, about 27,000 people in over here. The school was established in Goulburn about 115 years ago and has actually served the community since then. Our main building, the M Block building, is a Heritage Listed building, and a lot of visitors come over here to actually see the architecture and the design of the building. We have about 650 students in our school, about 100 teaching and non-teaching staff, and we serve a rural community. Most of the students are based in and around the town area, but we also have students who travel quite a far distance to come to our school.

I have joined the school about 12 years ago, and about 4 years ago I was appointed as the Principal of Goulburn High School. I'm really, really proud to represent the community because they're really passionate about the school. I have got 100 passionate staff who want to drive change and innovation and creativity in the school to serve the community, and I'm so proud to be the leader of Goulburn High School.

JE: We're talking about the Seasons for Life project, the Seasons for Growth program specifically today. I'm interested in why that particular area of student wellbeing really, why is this a priority area for your school and why did you get involved in this particular program?

YM: Supporting student wellbeing is a core priority at Goulburn High School. We look at areas of, you know, connectivity and students succeeding in initiatives, and also thriving, So, we look at a wellbeing framework where we can actually support students to connect, succeed and thrive. Seasons for Life really resonated with us because we wanted to provide our students with tools to cope with grief, loss and significant change.

In a regional context, a lot of change happens, and we wanted to make sure that we prepare our students, we provide them with the tools to actually deal with those changes – particularly around COVID, managing COVID. And then there's so many things happened in terms of dealing with the disruption due to COVID, and that really inspired us to actually provide that level of support to our students to ensure that they are actually prepared to deal with, like I said, grief, loss and significant changes in their life.

JE: And we'll be speaking to Angela in a moment. Was that one of the things actually that was attractive in terms of this program that, you know, you’re training up the staff rather than getting somebody in externally having that expertise on site – was that attractive to you?

YM: Yeah, absolutely. I always believe in making sure that we have on site support for our students and also staff. And the reason we do that is because, you know, changes can happen very quickly in someone's life, you know, and there could be a loss in someone's life, and we have to deal with those things immediately. I just wanted to make sure I have someone available on site to provide that continuous education to the school community. And Angela, being our Student Support Officer, is the best person for that role. She's very passionate about providing support to our students, but also passionate about involving staff in this whole journey in supporting our students.

JE: I'm interested in your perspective as a school leader, then. You mentioned you've been at the school for 12 years and you were appointed Principal a couple of years ago. I asked this question earlier about how the landscape’s changed from the perspective of MacKillop over the years in terms of how we discuss student mental health and wellbeing, educator wellbeing, and those issues such as suicide, grief and loss. How do you see that that's changed over your time as a school leader and an educator?

YM: Over my time as an educator, like I've taught in different, you know, areas like different countries as well. I believe there's been a marked shift in how we approach our discussions around mental health, around suicide and around grief in schools. The change I've seen is I think the stigma surrounding these issues has lessened, allowing us to have more open and supportive conversations with students, staff and families. And I believe there's been a stronger focus on holistic wellbeing for both students and educators, recognising the importance of mental health alongside academic learning; and I think that has been the major change I have seen in staff, in students, and also in families as well.

JE: That's interesting. There's a celebration day that's part of this program and I understand that you attend that celebration day in person. Obviously, having the backing of school leadership for any program, whatever you're bringing in, that's crucial, but particularly programs like this for them to flourish and to be effective, that's important. Why do you feel it's important to also show that support publicly, to be that visible presence?

YM: I think it is essential to be visibly supportive of initiatives like Seasons for Life. Attending the celebration day showed my commitment and helped reinforce the message that these programs are integral to our school values. Our school values of Respect, Responsibility and Resilience underpins everything we do in our school. And I feel by attending the celebration it also communicates the message that, you know, as a school we are ready to break down the stigma; by being a visible presence [it] encourages others to see this as a normal part of school, and opens up conversations about wellbeing. I believe publicly supporting such initiatives strengthens our school's culture of care and helps ensure long-term success.

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Welcome back to this episode of School Improvement. We’re talking about grief and loss education today, and specifically in a secondary school context. Before the break we heard from Keeva Mostyn, National Project Lead for Seasons for Life, and Yogesh Mani, Principal of Goulburn High School, which is using the program as part of the wellbeing support for students. Angela Bubalo is a School Support Officer at Goulburn High – so, she bridges that gap between home and school – and she’s a trained Companion. You heard Keeva there explain the Companions are trained up as facilitators, and that really means schools can then embed the program, and have that familiar ‘go-to’ person – and as Yogesh said, he feels it’s important to the school to have a system where there is a trained person on site so that they can respond to students’ needs immediately. So, I started off by asking Angela about the Companion role, and she also explains a bit about how the program works in Goulburn’s context.

Angela Bubalo: The Companion role is really a pivotal role for the program. So, basically, you're the narrator, you set the scene, you're pretty much the everything in the first instance within the school community. So really you need to hit the ground running and working collaboratively with the school staff and being fully transparent and, most importantly, communicating well with the Wellbeing Team, the Head Teacher, year advisors – so everybody knows what's happening. Working with the parents and the carers – so, preparing the permission notes to be approved and handing them out, but most importantly getting them back. And if we don't get them back, then sometimes I'll do a phone home and I'll get approval, verbal approval from the carers or the parents.

So, I guess providing a safe, non-judgmental space for students to express their feelings, showing empathy and compassion to our students and their experiences while in a supportive environment, but also boundaries need to be set of course. And preparing all those resources that you require, and I truly believe the preparation and the groundwork is the key.

The program taught students healthy coping mechanisms for dealing with grief – mindfulness and journaling, which a lot of them weren't aware of, and they've continued to journal … (over a year), so that is really fantastic. And they were engaged in activities that promoted healing and wellbeing, and that included anything from art therapy, or sometimes just a walk and talk session while they were collecting leaves for their artwork; it could be really anything, that sometimes the switch just clicked and that was really, really good.

A staff member was always invited to our sessions. We did ours a little bit different because we run it for 10 sequential sessions; so, we run it every day for one period, first period – we tried last period, but that was a bit sluggish, that wasn't very successful, but first period is terrific. And then we invite a guest speaker for a few minutes just to come in, so the kids get to know who's who in the school. So, it might be the school nurse, it could be the school psychologist, it could be school counsellor, the year advisor, the DP [Deputy Principal] … the first aid lady, the canteen lady. It can be anything. Sometimes they don't know a lot of things in the school, even if they've been here a couple of years, it's really interesting. So, just having that connection of a one-on-one in a small group was really, really effective with them.

JE: If you were to say to me, ‘oh, we invited in some guest speakers’, I would immediately think external and I'm sure people listening would think external, but that's fascinating and that's a really great thing to do to introduce the kids, to actually ‘these are the staff we've got to support you within the school. Let's have a look at who we've got that maybe you don't know...’ That's such a good idea.

AB: And it worked really great because the kids are now more open to actually go to any teacher. They were the specific ones, but at the end we reminded them that they could go to any teacher with any problem. And that is working, so, it's really good.

JE: So, without sharing sort of individual details, of course, then how has Seasons for Life, when you sort of reflect on that, how has that program helped the students at your school?

AB: Well, the peer-to-peer interaction with the groups offered a really rich learning environment that benefited our students in so many ways. So, it improved their attendance, they were more engaged in learning, their confidence was being built, there was a reduction in their stress and anxiety, they had better social interactions. And the expressive artwork and the visual aids were really paramount for our students. And the students found a common grounding, interacting and supporting one another. They became more respectful and kind to one another, which was really nice, in an environment that fostered a real personal growth.

I guess one of the interesting observations for me was the students realised, when they realised that their journals were private, and they were theirs, it was like they were gold. It was amazing. And the realisation just had them writing and writing and writing, because it was their own personal journey. So that was really nice; and that's some children that won't even write or won't even speak that are really, really quiet and withdrawn. So it was, yeah, we had so many benefits with the program and we're continuing it. So next week we start again, we're running 2 groups, so we're very excited about that, so we’re running it period 1 and 2. So, it’s going to be ongoing for us.

JE: What's that meant for your own practice then, in terms of sort of confidence and discussing these issues or maybe some of that knowledge? What's that meant for you?

AB: So, the program really gave me the opportunity to really get to know the students and their struggles with trauma and grief and it equipped me with the tools and strategies for managing challenging behaviours with the teams – relating to their grief and loss and change in the classroom setting; so, I had to make sure that I set boundaries.

But I think it really increased my empathy, and it grounded me to what is really happening for our students, and helping them approach their issues and supporting them. Sometimes it was confronting, but it really did assure me that we needed the program, and it was positive, it had positive impacts with our students. It increased my patience, and more of an understanding of different related trauma and how they deal with it – like death, divorce, incarceration, financial loss – and how they mask the trauma; and youth are very good at masking the trauma and in a small setting I was really surprised myself, the assumption that you make, and then you really see what’s really going on with some of these kids and the reasons behind what's really going on and what's happening for them. Yeah.

JE: That's great that you're learning so much as well along the way. Like you say, yeah, the students are very good at masking things aren’t they. In terms of getting the program into the school and preparing the staff, so laying that groundwork – you did your checks and scrutinising, you pitched it to Yogesh, you know, what was involved, logistical things like the timetable, and of course how it would benefit students, and got the backing of the leaders, which as I mentioned to him earlier is really important – and then you introduced it to the whole school at a staff development day.

AB: So, in turn I gave the whole school staff the opportunity to have a thorough understanding of the program – so explaining how would it run, what it was about. Because of course, teachers would be worried about students missing classes and things like that. So, explaining it would only be one class fortnight that they would be missing. So, they were really on board once I worked that out, and they we're very happy with that.

And it gave me the opportunity to explain to the staff that the grief wasn't just suicide or death, and exposing staff to having understanding in the different types of grief and trauma that some of our students faced. Understanding the impact of the family separation; that can be quite traumatic for kids, divorce, incarceration, the financial loss... Moving from a 100-acre farm with horses and livestock to a little home, a 500-square metre block home – like, that's a grief, and the trauma for some of the kids. The horse that suddenly died. The trauma that a lot of our kids … it's very different, but they somehow managed to deal with it and understand one another in the group. So, you know, moving from a new school to a new town, moving from a big city or a regional town; losing connection with their peers, losing family networks, if they've moved 200 or 300 kilometres. The gradual trauma when someone's sick and they're dying. Sudden tragedy – somebody's lost a limb on the quad bike on the farm … there were so many different sorts of trauma and loss for our kids that it wasn't just death or suicide in that respect.

But the feedback from the staff was the students were more engaged in learning; their attendance had improved. There was less of a stigma to seek help when they weren't coping and they would turn to teachers, even teachers that they didn't really know – and that was interesting. I can truly say that I am very blessed with my colleagues and executive staff here at Goulburn High School – they've been second to none. Building that relationship with home and school has been really good because the parents and the carers are really on board with referrals and things like that and they’ll try things, so that stigma's really been broken down – mental health and stuff like that. So, we're very happy. I'm very happy.

That’s all for this episode – thanks for joining me! If you want to keep listening there are hundreds more episodes in the Teacher archive, including from our School Improvement series. Visit teachermagazine.com, or wherever you get your podcasts from, to access those. And please remember to leave a rating and review – it helps more people you like to find the podcast, and it’s a really fantastic support for the Teacher team. Bye.

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