Research suggests that at least 10% of students will experience a significant loss during their time at university, and 24% of staff have been bereaved in the past year. So why is no one talking about grief? And why is support still so limited?
This session will introduce the HE Bereavement Framework, a new resource by The Student Grief Network based on in-depth research and hundreds of conversations with students and staff.
The framework outlines the impact of grief within Higher Education and provides practical steps for improving support, drawing on five key themes: policy; training; support service; crisis response; and communication.
The session will be led by Anna May, founder of The Student Grief Network and Executive Head of Kaplan International Grief Programmes; in collaboration with Hanne Bakelants, a postdoctoral researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).
About the hosts
Anna lost her brother as a child, and her dad while studying at university, and now has over seven years experience delivering training, consultancy and workshops for bereaved university students and the staff that support them. Her work has been nominated for mutliple awards, including Best Grief Support Initiaitve with This Can Happen and Student Support Award with The PIE.
Hanne's doctoral research focused on the development process of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) towards a Compassionate University. Her approach is grounded in participatory methods, including ripple effects mapping, participant observation, and developmental evaluation.
