Seasons for Growth
Helping young people to cope with loss and bereavement
It’s testimony to how well an education programme showing young people how to cope with loss and change is working that, a year after taking part, a group of children in Scotland suggested a DVD be made so they could talk about the experience and encourage others to try 'Seasons For Growth'.
The short film was shown at Scotland’s first Seasons for Growth conference in May 2005 where delegates heard how some 5000 children in Scotland had already been helped by attending Seasons for Growth groups, mostly in a school setting; and how their families had also benefited.
"My grannie passed away" said one boy "and until I came to the group, I couldn't tell anyone how I felt. I support this programme because it’s a safe place and there are loads of activities to help you. I have moved on and I'm happier now."
A mother who was interviewed said: "My daughter went to a Seasons for Growth group (after her father died) and she used to come home and hold my hand when I cried. She told me: "It's alright to cry, mum." I learned through her that life can be brighter - eventually."
The Notre Dame Centre
First developed in Australia in 1996, where the programme has been delivered to more than 100,000 young people and families, Seasons for Growth has been promoted in Scotland since 2002 by the Notre Dame Centre. Staff at the Glasgow-based Centre have specialised in helping young people and families, across Scotland, with emotional and behaviour problems for over 70 years. They became aware of the Seasons programme while carrying out their own research into what support children need to recover after trauma.
Said David Murray and Moira Sugden, the chartered psychologists at the Notre Dame Centre with responsibility for Seasons for Growth:
“Previously, there was little training available in Scotland for teachers, and others working with young people that was specifically aimed at helping children cope with the sort of ‘loss trauma’ that occurs due to death, separation or divorce. Any change involves an element of loss and whenever a child is coping with a change, it will produce a ‘loss reaction’ which will show in their behaviour.
“Not all children need help to cope with loss but many do. Support may not be available at home or children may be trying to protect their parents by not crying or talking about the loss - in case it upsets them - and visa versa. But these things need to be talked about because we know that some children can become so overwhelmed by their feelings of grief that they have thoughts of suicide.”
The Seasons for Growth programme focuses on understanding the effects of change, loss and grief and is in align with key research on social and emotional education that promotes mental
health and contributes to childhood resilience. Their own research at the Notre Dame Centre had shown that most children suffering from loss could be best helped by getting support from people who already knew them, and by talking to other youngsters in the same situation.
Said Moira and David: “In helping children deal with loss and grief, we wanted to move away from the ‘victim’ model, towards the promotion of their own capacity to cope. Seasons for Growth offered just what we were looking for.”
Activities for coping
Seasons for Growth is based on the work of American psychologist, William Worden, who found that a grieving person could learn to cope with loss by working through a series of four basic tasks. In Australia, Worden’s research was adapted to the school setting by creating a series of activities based on his original tasks, undertaken in a group situation and led by a trained Companion, and aimed at:
- supporting young people in coming to terms with the reality of their loss
- giving young people the opportunity to learn about the range of emotions that accompany grief and how each has experienced these in their own loss
- providing young people with skills for coping, problem solving and decision making
- building a peer support network
- helping to restore confidence and self esteem
Initially sceptical that young people could be ‘taught’ how to deal effectively with loss and grief, Moira, David and their colleagues were so impressed with the results of a Seasons pilot study that the Notre Dame Centre is now the base for Seasons for Growth in Scotland. It is the licence holder in Scotland for the programme, the UK distribution centre for materials and the Training Centre for Trainers in the UK (all of it delivered on a not-for-profit basis). The programme has been extensively evaluated in Australia with the latest report in 2005 showing that Seasons for Growth was able to assist participants to:
- acknowledge their self worth, through raising their self esteem and acceptance of themselves
- normalise their experiences and reduce isolation
- enhance their understanding of themselves and others within a change, loss and grief framework
- connect them to their communities by improving communication, teaching them to problem solve, and to seek assistance when faced with problems
- provide a place that is safe, allowing trust to develop within the group, and to provide an opportunity to tell their story and unburden themselves.
Seasons for Growth in Scotland
Since the launch of Seasons for Growth in Scotland, more than 800 people, many of them teachers in primary and secondary schools, have received training as programme Companions. Inverclyde, Clackmannanshire, Lanarkshire and Glasgow (where more than 80 per cent of its 158 Companions are in education) have been particularly enthusiastic about the benefits of Seasons.
There are 11 trainers in Scotland and the two-day training course, which currently costs £230, allows Companions to run groups in their schools or communities. The programme is aimed at children aged 6 to 18 years and consists of five levels: 6-8 years, 9-10 years, 11-12 years, 13-15 years and 16-18 years. Each programme is carried out over a period of eight sessions with each session lasting approximately 50 minutes.
Every pupil in the group has their own Seasons for Growth journal, designed around activities geared to the group’s age level. The Companion has a manual linked to the journals so that each session has a focus and an outcome. Activities include poetry, music, art and craft work, drama and role playing.
Said Moira and David:
“Working in a group means that children learn from each other. They discover that other people are experiencing the same feelings and once a group has finished, it reduces their sense of isolation. But this is not therapy or counselling. It is an education process. Seasons for Growth shows young people that, although the loss they have experienced is outwith their control, there are strategies they can learn that will help them cope with that loss. They discover that, like the seasons, things will change.”
Further information is available at www.notredamecentre.org.uk
The Notre Dame Centre
20 Athole Gardens
Glasgow
G12 9BA
Tel: 0141 339 2366