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Nonprofit Sharing Kindness describes clinician‑led peer grief support now offered in Falmouth schools
Summary
Sharing Kindness told the committee it ran clinician‑led peer grief support groups at Morse Pond, Lawrence and Falmouth High School under a signed MOU; the nonprofit said the program is curriculum‑based, clinician‑led and provided at no cost to the district.
Kathleen Shawn O’Brien, director of clinical and community services at the nonprofit Sharing Kindness, presented the organization’s peer grief support work to the School Committee and described clinician‑led, six‑week groups the nonprofit ran this year in Morse Pond, Lawrence and Falmouth High School.
Sharing Kindness staff told the committee the groups are led by licensed clinicians who receive additional training from the nonprofit, and the program includes a “grief 101” briefing for school staff to reduce the risk that well‑intentioned but untrained staff unintentionally undo group work. O’Brien said the program operates under a memorandum of understanding and is provided “at no cost to the school.”
O’Brien described curriculum components and student outcomes. She said administrators and guidance staff identify students for the groups, the organization provides parent notification and registration materials, and the groups include age‑appropriate psychoeducation, coping skills and activities such as “care tags” and circles of support. She said end‑of‑group surveys were overwhelmingly positive and that a high school student cohort agreed in work and survey results that the groups reduced isolation among bereaved peers.
O’Brien asked the committee to invite Sharing Kindness to continue and expand its work in district schools. School staff named in the presentation—Laurie, Alan, Sandy, Kathleen Fideli, Selby Born and Katie Feld—were thanked for partnership and facilitation. The committee did not take formal action at the June 24 meeting; presenters said an MOU had already been signed.
O’Brien noted the nonprofit’s origins in suicide‑prevention work and said the grief groups address death‑related bereavement and other losses that can impair student functioning. She said groups are clinician‑led ‘‘to make sure that they are grief‑informed’’ and to provide consistent psychoeducation.
The presentation concluded with examples of student artwork and positive student feedback; presenters asked to be invited back for future collaboration.
