Helping Students Heal

Did you know that the Hospice bereavement team provides individual grief counseling for Frederick County Public School students?

Today, through a state grant, grief counselor Laura Fernandez, LCPC, is solely dedicated to providing inschool grief counseling. Laura supports both Spanishand English-speaking students. She has been able to see 46 students for a total of 221 sessions so far this school year (SY 2024-2025). She travels to 24 different schools in the county. In a continuing trend from last school year, Laura has seen a racially diverse group of students (see graphs).

A significant number of students have had a primary loss (parent or sibling) and several students have lost their loved one from a traumatic death such as overdose, suicide, or homicide. Often students are referred to the Camp Jamie program, grief support for grades 1-12 for continued support; campers can also be referred to the in-school grief counseling, creating wrap-around services for grieving students. Hospice plans to continue this vital work to support grieving children in the community.

Bereavement services are offered at no charge to anyone in the community and are funded largely through grants and donations.