Re: Funeral, Scouts and Grief
RYAN KEIL (RYAN.KEIL@M.CC.UTAH.EDU)
Sun, 3 Apr 1994 03:11:37 -0600
On Fri, 1 Apr 1994, Joyce McKibben wrote:
> Mike,
>
> I would like to thank you for bring up a topic that many of us as youth
> leaders may face, even if we don't want to think about it.
> While I can fully understand a councils extreme reluctance to recommend
> that a youth recieve counselling or not (liability issue here), I am
> firmly convinced that a council should keep a list of counselling
> resources that are available in the area. I also believe that this needs
> to be included in the Basic Training for all levels. Included in this
> segment of training should be information on what we, as leaders, can do
> to help a youngster with grief. It should also include what can be done
> to help the rest of the unit in dealing with their feelings as a result
> of a grief situtation.
[balance deleted]
> Don Blalock
> Cubmaster, Memphis TN
I think, in a more ideal world, this would be great. For our leaders to
personally have the skills and insights required to provide the type of
assistance an individual having suffered such a traumatic loss needs would
be tremendous. However, one must question whether this is feasible. How
many of our leaders are currently stretched to the max without having to
first obtain this type of training (quite extensive training) and,
secondly, to stay current in it? We do well in many areas of BSA to get
our leaders Basic Trained and attending RT.
Again, I like the idea, but I don't feel it's practical. An alternative
might be (and some councils already do) maintain a good relationship with
local agencies that can provide these services (hopefully, gratis). A
second alternative might be for the council to train a small staff
(perhaps one or two DEs) to assist in this area. They could directly work
the surviving family members and the unit both.
BTW, I, too am glad Mike raised this question. And reading the responses
helps me remember just how much of a family we in BSA are.
Ryan Keil
Member At Large
Great Salt Lake Council, BSA
ryan.keil@m.cc.utah.edu
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