Leratos Hope remains committed to all initiatives involving AIDS education and the mentoring and support of workers in the HIV/AIDS field. We co-sponsor education events and provide supervision to HIV/AIDS counsellors.

Lost and Found:

Is an 8 week course geared for secondary school age, young people (grade 7 – 12) who are experiencing significant loss through either divorce/separation or bereavement because of HIV or other terminal illness within the family unit.


The Course and the issues it addresses:

When separation, divorce or death occurs in a family it can affect young people in many ways. While on the surface, they may appear to be coping, inside they may be angry or even feel guilty. School work may suffer and attendance may become sporadic. Issues which a child may be struggling with may result in behavioural changes and inexplicable outbursts. Others may become withdrawn and tearful.

If a parent is going through a family crisis such as divorce/separation or death of a partner or close relative or any other significant loss, they may feel ashamed or embarrassed to approach the school. However, there may be practical issues which the education authority need to know about. Custody of the children, financial burdens and the emotional state of the parent are all matters which will cause pressure to the parent left in charge of the young person.

Teens are at a stage when they draw conclusions from their experiences and apply them as strategies for living. At the same time, they are notorious for not always communicating with parents as much as they would like them to. This, in a time of family crisis, will only serve to exacerbate their observations and often lead them to get an even greater distortion of the true experience. Workshops allow teens to process this data, reflect on their experience, compare experiences with other teens and integrate vital new information into their world view. Workshops also encourage the young people attending to communicate with their parents what they are experiencing at home, as well as what they are learning through the course material.

We, ‘This Way Up! Youth Project’, have produced this course specifically for secondary school age young people (Grade 7-12) who are experiencing/have experienced significant loss through either divorce/separation or bereavement within the family unit.

The course is designed to be delivered in groups with a maximum of 8-10 students. The sessions are 40 – 60 minutes and are delivered by trained workers who will preferably have an ongoing commitment to a local school. Ideally, the worker will enable support to be available to the student once the course has been completed. The worker will liaise this aspect with the pastoral team at the school.

The aim of the course is to enable students to identify feelings behind loss experiences and provide strategies to deal with and grow through such emotions.

We recommend that you have 8 sessions with each group. There are 6 main sessions and an evaluation session. The other 2 sessions can be set optional sessions to suit your group.

The Main Sessions of ‘Lost & Found’:

• What is loss?
A general introduction to loss, looking wider than just loss through death. This session contains lots of time to get to know the group.
• What is happening to me?
Looking at denial and shock also with continuing opportunity to get to know the group
• It makes me so mad!
A look at anger related to loss and ways to cope with it.
• I promise....
A little look at how and why we bargain when we go through big changes.
• No way out?
Depression and how it affects us when we have lost someone close.
• I’m just used to it now and life’s OK! Acceptance and Hope for the future.
This session includes a short look at forgiveness.

There are some optional sessions to be added, should it be necessary to do so in the context of a specific group and their needs.

Common elements exist to build a sense of familiarity for the student attending. The course follows the lives of 3 young people (The Green Family) as they experience their parent’s divorce. Students use the fictitious family to explore their own feelings about the topic. Various other techniques are incorporated to consolidate learning and to give students the skills to grow through their experience of loss. Each session contains ‘Take a Look at the Book’ – a Christian perspective on the topic for the student to consider. The course is accessible by anyone of any faith or none. At the end of the course we allow plenty of time for evaluation and feed back. We would hope to provide the school with a short anonymous report on what the young people said.

‘Lost & Found’ Groups:

The teenage years are times of great change for young people. For most, these changes are exciting and challenging, but for some they cause anxiety and pain.

When young people experience a significant loss during this time of change it can be really helpful to have someone to talk to.

The ‘Lost & Found’ course material is designed to enable young people to identify feelings in relation to significant loss and develop strategies to cope. The loss may be as a result of bereavement or parental separation/divorce or a significant loss in their lives. The course has been developed by youth workers with over 20 years experience and reviewed by counselors and mental health professionals.

Easy access:
Many young people would find going to see a counselor a stressful experience but to come out of a lesson for a set number of weeks is much easier for them.

Small groups:
‘Lost & Found’ is delivered by trained facilitators to groups of between 3 and 8 students identified through the pastoral staff within school. The course is most appropriate for the Grade 7-12 student age range.

Flexible:
The material can be covered in six 45 minute sessions making it suitable for lesson times in most schools. The course material can be adapted by our facilitators to be delivered in 1:1 settings.

Content:
The material covers the Kubler-Ross theory that there are stages of grief which include numbness and denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. The material is highly interactive and includes games and work sheets. Students are encouraged to share their own experiences in a safe environment.

Every Child Matters:
The course material can contribute to ensuring that schools cover some of the outcomes of the Green Paper tabled in parliament in the United Kingdom – ‘Every Child Matters’ and in particular – be ‘emotionally’ healthy, enjoy and achieve and make a positive contribution.