Coping with change and loss: a program for the management of loss and grief for adolescents

Master of EducationAdolescence is regarded as a buffer-zone between childhood and adulthood. It is a time of complex developmental changes, the challenge of which is experienced and embraced with varying degrees of adjustment, chaos and alienation from one individual to another. Overlaying these changes are various other life crisis events such as death of a loved one, or divorce. As such, adolescence can be usefully considered as a Rite of Passage, implying a myriad of transitions as young people let go of childhood and embrace all that it means to be adult. Our society, however, is remarkable for the absence of cultural rituals to mark and assist this transition. Given that adolescence can be regarded as a transitional stage, the characteristics of rites of passage and, in particular, liminality, provide insight into the experience and meaning of the transition of the young person from childhood to adulthood. The application of the concept of rites of passage to adolescence is demonstrated, both as a theoretical construct and as it may be applied in practice. The various transitions of adolescence imply endings and endings frequently evoke a great sense of loss. Unless the grief evoked by adolescent losses is addressed, young people will remain attached to that which is lost and have a limited capacity to engage in the newness of adulthood. The case profiles of two adolescents serve to illustrate the impact of various losses on adolescents and the complex implications of these losses remaining unresolved. An overview of the current research in the area of loss and grief, with particular emphasis on the adolescent experience of loss and grief, and how such grief may be resolved, provides the basis for acknowledging a wide range of adolescent losses, and recognising and affirming healthy expression of the grief associated with these losses. These insights provide the basis for a program of lessons for Years 9 and 10 Secondary School students. The program consists of six lessons incorporating cognitive as well as affective elements, and is suitable for use in the classroom or in a small group setting. The intention underlying the program is to teach adolescents a framework and skills with which, they can learn to bring to resolution losses as they occur. Students would then possess a strategy with which they could relate to their peers, or other support people, or which could be applied personally in dealing with a particular loss, or set of losses, in their own lives