Giving Compass' Take:

• Emily Tate, writing for  EdSurge, discusses the hurdles for school crisis counselors to provide grief counseling for students virtually. 

• How can education donors help crisis counselors overcome these challenges and provide resources? 

• Read about the mental health risks during COVID-19. 

The students only knew that the meeting had been scheduled on short notice, that it was important they attend, and that school administrators and counselors would be on the call.

From their respective homes, located throughout Marietta, Ga., the high schoolers clicked the link their teacher had provided and joined a Zoom meeting, no doubt curious—maybe even anxious—about what was coming.

Then the head of school counseling, Taisa Turner, began speaking: Unfortunately, we’re having this meeting today to let you know that one of your classmates has passed away.

Turner, the counseling department chair at Wheeler High School, part of Cobb County School District, told the students that the death was sudden, but not related to COVID-19. She wanted them to know immediately so they could begin to process the news. Turner then talked to the students about grief—what it looks like, the different stages they may go through, how each one of them would process it differently, and that no feeling was wrong or inappropriate.

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed social interactions and major life events of all stripes. Often, the virtual substitutes to those experiences can feel awkward or stilted: listening to the live-streamed exchange of wedding vows, sharing a first date over a video call, meeting a newborn through FaceTime or watching a student graduate through Zoom.

The more difficult events, too, have found virtual alternatives: Memorial services have been held online, and in the case of Cobb County—and many other schools that experienced a student or staff death this spring—grief counseling is taking place through live video sessions.

Read the full article about virtual crisis counseling by Emily Tate at EdSurge.