Free grief counseling program expands to two more CPS schools
Donna Pearson-Simmons’ 6-year-old grandson Keant’e Boyd Jr. was an outgoing kid — until his mom was fatally shot last year.
Keant'e became severely withdrawn. Sometimes, he wouldn't even talk.
Now, with the help of free grief counseling provided by Chicago Survivors, he's more like his old self.
“I don’t think we would’ve been able to make it through” without the counseling, said Pearson-Simmons, who started attending the sessions with Deant'e last year. “It takes a community and neighborhood to raise kids. That’s exactly what this is.”
More students will be able to get that help starting this school year, with two more schools being added to the Bridgeport group's trauma and counseling support program, according to Jashawn Hill, executive director of Chicago Survivors. What started as a pilot at North Lawndale Charter High School, Parkside Elementary School and DRW College Prep expanded to 14 schools last year, and will be present in at least 16 South and West Side schools this year.
But there's still a huge unmet need, with more than 80 schools still on the waiting list for the group’s services, Hill said, adding that limited resources prevent expanding to more schools — for now.
“We’re just getting started,” Hill said.
Last school year, the group held 50 group therapy sessions during the school day and twice as many individual sessions, along with eight workshops about grief care and two wellness fairs to help inform people of the work they do outside the schools — such as immediate crisis response services, criminal justice advocacy and case management support, among other things.
The goal is to help students and their families with "post-traumatic growth," Hill said.
“We help them to make meaning over their tragedy,” Hill said at the group’s annual block party Friday. “This therapy works as another type of violence interruption. … Children need help to process their pain so they’re less likely to turn to violence themselves.”
Hill said one of the keys to reaching students is meeting them where they’re at, in addition to making it easier on parents to get their kids the care they need.
“Making therapy free, accessible and during the school day removes all the barriers for parents and caregivers,” Hill said.
Donna Pearson-Simmons watches her grandson, Keant’e, 7, gives a piece of artwork to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin. They were attending the Chicago Survivors’ annual back-to-school block party outside City of Praise Church in Chicago Lawn on Friday. Keant’e is also holding a Tree of Life he made as part of the Chicago Survivors program. which has provided free grief counseling to Keant’e since his mother, Erica Reed, was fatally shot in May 2023.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Tabitha Johnson, a counselor at Libby Elementary, said the initial response to surveys of student interest in the program were “unfortunately overwhelming,” so they started with one after-school counseling session. That quickly expanded to two to accommodate how many attendees they had, which included parents, grandparents and siblings of students.
Her school also had the Tree of Life program, which had students honor the memories of lost loved ones through an art piece that shows the connections in their family — even if some were no longer around — to continue their legacy.
“The students are more calm now, they’re able to talk through things better where some of them were just shutting down before,” Johnson said. “A lot of them didn’t know how to navigate life with the loss they had experienced. … [But] through art therapy and meaningful discussions, they were able to support each other and add more tools to their tool kits while celebrating the people they had lost.”