Petition - Integration of Grief Education into School Curriculums

Grief is a universal experience, yet our society doesn’t teach us about grief, how to cope with it, and how to support others who are grieving. Unresolved grief can develop into mental illness, substance use disorder, and emotional trauma that can last lifetime. The cost of unresolved grief on our society is enormous, in terms of loss of productivity, treatment cost (including Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance), and societal well-being. The most direct way to address this is to teach our children, within our school curriculums, about grief, how to cope with it, and supporting those who are grieving.

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Dear Members of the United States Congress,

We, the undersigned, petition the United States Congress to integrate grief education into our school curriculums at each developmental stage, and to conduct a comprehensive study to measure the cost of unresolved grief on our society.

Grief affects everyone. Even as children, most of us experience grief due to death of family members or pets, parents divorcing, separation from friends because of moving, heartbreak by boyfriend or girlfriend, just to name a few. Some experience more severe and complicated forms of grief due to physical, emotional, and sexual trauma. Yet our society does not teach us what grief is and how to grieve in a healthy way. As a result, so many in our society carry unresolved grief that often develop into mental illness, substance use disorder, and emotional trauma that can last lifetime. The cost of unresolved grief to our society, in terms of loss of productivity, treatment cost (including Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance), and societal well-being, is unimaginable.

Since grief is a universal experience, every child needs to learn about grief and how to cope with it in a healthy way. This is the most direct way to minimize the detrimental cost of unresolved grief to our society. We propose to integrate grief education into our school curriculums at each developmental stage, and to conduct a comprehensive study to measure the cost of unresolved grief on our society.