Traumatic Brain Injury and Grief: Considerations and Practical Strategies for School Psychologists

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can result in a range of social, emotional, neurological, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes. If these outcomes are significant, family members and the individual who has sustained the TBI may struggle with accepting the effects of these deficits. They may grieve over disrupted family relationships, roles, and routines which can become a factor within the school setting. School psychologists are in a unique position to provide appropriate, short-term, school-based, TBI-related psychological grief counseling and support services designed to assist affected children in adjusting and succeeding in the school setting post-TBI. This paper will discuss evidenced-based strategies adapted from allied disciplines (e.g., education, medicine) that can enhance school psychologists’ ability to effectively address grief associated with TBI. Specifically, interventions designed to address the unique factors associated with ambiguous loss will be discussed.