Hospice of Knox County

Community Services:

Grief Counseling
Master’s prepared and licensed staff provide individual counseling for children, youth, adults, and families that have experienced a death.  This includes accidental death, non-hospice medical death, homicide, and suicide.  Services are provided at Hospice of Knox County, in the home, at school, the workplace, and other community locations.

Support Group Registration Form

School Services
The bereavement team provides death education, workshops, support groups, and training for school personnel, students, and families.  Areas addressed include integrating grief and loss curriculum into the classroom, helping children cope with tragedy and loss, talking with children about death, responding when a classroom has experienced a death, assisting in interventions with behavioral issues such as declining grades, acting out, and withdrawing.  There are 3 areas of emphasis:

  • Anticipating a Death – assistance to schools when there is a diagnosis of a life threatening illness in a student, staff, or family member by providing assistance in understanding the diagnosis, accessing resources, and supporting anticipatory grieving.
  • Crisis Response – when there is a death in the schools by providing immediate on-site support, consultation, crisis debriefing, education, support groups, resources, and follow-up.  These services are provided directly to the school or in collaboration with other student support agencies or staff.
  • Supporting the Grieving Process – provide education and support of grief reactions in the days and weeks following a death by providing consultations, training, or short-term support groups for students or staff.

Professional Support
The bereavement team provides consultation and education to employers, school personnel, social service/health care providers, and others.  Consultations are provided via phone or on-site.  On-site training is available for workplace wellness, to assist employers in understanding the many faces of grief among its workforce, and for on-site crisis response.

Crises Response
A sudden and unexpected death, tragic event, or natural disaster can generate a severe crises, especially if a death results, impacting the community.  Examples include the death of a police officer, group of students, or community leader.  The bereavement team can provide on-site support, defusing and debriefing, and pre-incident education.

 

Hospice of Knox County