How schools help students cope with tragedy

Students starting the new term with the trauma of a friend or classmate's sudden death can be supported through school, writes ROSITA BOLAND

THIS WEEK, pupils all over the country have been returning to school. However, for some, it is not the usual, routine start to the school year. The students at Luttrellstown Community College, St Brendan’s Community College in Killarney and St Joseph’s in Castleisland, are returning to classes where there are missing classmates.

Michaela Davis (12), Kevin Breen (15) and Áine Riordan (15) all died in the past fortnight; one died a violent death, and two were killed in a car crash. This school year, their classmates will have to cope with the absence of their friends, helped by the counselling services now routinely offered in schools at times of trauma.

Sr Elaine Troy is principal of St Michael’s Loreto Convent in Navan, Co Meath, which has 780 pupils. In May 2005, St Michael’s lost four of its students – Claire McCluskey, Deirdre Scanlon, Lisa Callan and Amy McCabe – in a bus crash. A fifth teenager, Sinead Ledwidge, also died in the same crash.

“At the time of the accident, we had a full-time guidance counsellor in the school. We also had an external counsellor coming in two mornings a week at that time for one-to-one sessions with students who were vulnerable or needed it,” Sr Troy says.

“A number of years previously, we recognised that some students had difficulties and the school was not really catering for them. Those difficulties would have been for students who were suffering from stress or bereavement. Parents would have separated. Or there had been abuse or trauma in the family when they were younger.

“We were very lucky because we had that system of support in place when the crash happened. So in our core group at the school, we already had two qualified people whom the girls knew and trusted. A lot of schools mightn’t have had that extra support.”

Sr Troy remembers functioning on auto-pilot at that time. “My office is close to the road. Everyone heard ambulances going up the road that day. We never thought it was anything to do with us,” she recalls. “I remember going up to the mortuary and my legs were weak. There was so much shock, trauma and grief – to lose four of our students at one time . . .

“We were all – including the staff – just so upset. We knew these girls – we were so fond of them – and it was difficult to keep ourselves going and be available to the students as well. The staff had to put their own upset to the side. I had to put myself on hold.”

On the day of the crash, two additional counsellors were made available to St Michael’s. These were provided by the Department of Education’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS). “One of the things I remember clearly is that students did not want to talk to strangers, so in our situation, the NEPS people were mostly around for staff and parents.”

Sr Troy has been contacted several times since by other schools experiencing some kind of trauma within their community. “I don’t set myself up as an expert in any way; I just tell them what worked well for us.” She always offers this advice: “One of the things we found to be really important in the immediate aftermath is to have some kind of a ritual. Everyone feels lost and helpless, and everyone wants to do something. We had little services, a special school gathering, a book of condolences, and we set up a place where students could light a candle.”

There were group sessions on bereavement, as well as opportunities for individual counselling. The crash happened at the end of May, close to the end of the school year. “Because it was so close to the summer holidays, there were only 10 days to work with the students – there was a lack of closure. In September, the guidance counsellor asked the girls who had been on the bus if they would like to form their own support group. They called themselves the Seedlings, and they met him every week. After they had been meeting for some time, they set up a road safety campaign; they did something really positive and focused, and that really helped them.”

There is now a memorial in the school grounds for the girls, and for other members of the school community, both students and staff, who died suddenly. “We remember the crash every year. The first year, we did a very big whole school event. We decided we were going to celebrate the girls’ lives, and that’s what we did.”

The school received a huge number of letters, cards and e-mails “from all parts of the world”. They still have them all in an archive. “That helped us all. We displayed all the letters we received, and felt a huge amount of support from them.”

And what is Sr Troy’s advice to parents of classmates who have suffered the loss of one of their friends? “Be vigilant from a distance, and encourage your children to talk to you. Keep them going on a normal routine, and if you are worried about them, make contact with the school.”