Detailed examples of exercises and discussion methods can be easily customized for specific settings. Time-limited groups also offer the facilitators an opportunity to make a meaningful assessment of which young people may be having particular problems that would benefit from referrals to specialized resources. The book is also useful for its intelligent handling of risk factors for teen suicide. The attention given to suicide is important both because the suicide of a student can be a traumatic event within a school, and grieving teenagers may experience suicidal feelings as part of their own grief reactions to deaths from any cause. They are dealing as well with the additional upheaval caused by their changing bodies, their struggle for independence, and the necessity of making important choices concerning their future.
Adolescents also tend to feel misunderstood, and are preoccupied with many unanswered questions.
They are looking for advice and comfort, and don't know where to get it. Bereavement support groups in the schools can provide such a place. The authors make a clear case that adolescent bereavement groups work best if the young people work together to help each other, with appropriate guidance by a trained adult facilitator. Trying to work with parents and adolescents in the same group can result in the adolescents feeling betrayed. While most grieving teens want to help their grieving parents, they also feel that their own grief deserves special attention and that it is unfair to indirectly place them in the role of caregivers for their parents.