KARNS CITY — Guidance counselor Allyson Riley has seen students struggling with the death of a loved one — the depression, the anger and the isolation.

“Nobody knows what to say,” said Riley, who works with students the Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School. “Typically when you’re a teenager, when you have someone close to you die, your friends can drift off because they don’t know how to help you.”

Shawn Sledzianowski, a specialist on helping families through the grieving process, agrees.

“It’s not easy,” Sledzianowski said about death. “The biggest goal is just saying, ‘hey, let’s make death and dying safe to talk about.’”

To help its students, the Karns City Area School District has formed a partnership with Highmark Caring Place, a center for children, adolescents and families to find support during the grieving process.

The Caring Place has a site in Warrendale, with four locations across Pennsylvania. In addition to site-based services for families who are grieving, it offers peer group programs specific for students in the community who have experienced the death of a loved one.

“When a student loses a loved one, it can have a tremendous impact on trying to thrive in a school setting. Taking care of the emotional toll is important to enabling them to better focus on the schoolwork,” said Eric Ritzert, Karns City superintendent.

The partnership is viewed as beneficial to students’ emotional well-being and being able to perform in the classroom and through daily life.

Riley saw a similar partnership with the Caring Place while working at Deer Lakes School District, saying that the students there responded well.

Children’s grief awareness day was recognized Nov. 21. Rolling out its partnership with Karns City schools, the Caring Place held lessons during class periods for the seventh- through 12th-grade students.

Sledzianowski, a specialist and school services coordinator for the Caring Place, has held conversations with students about ways to deal with grief and communicate with friends who are grieving.

“We see some kids who are willing to talk about and are willing to participate; we have other high schoolers who don’t really want to,” Sledzianowski said. “Today, some of the classes were quieter, but even if they weren’t talking out loud, they were participating, talking among themselves, listening to what we have to offer.”

Visiting the 12th-grade students in Matthew Bates’ English class, students spent time talking about ways to interact with their friends during difficult times. While the class spent time creating chain links out of paper and tape along with blue butterfly drawings meant for a schoolwide project on mental health, Sledzianowski also talked about peer support groups and other programs the Caring Place offers to high school students.

While visiting the different grades, Sledzianowski said he wasn’t surprised that the seventh- and eighth-graders enjoyed it and seemed more responsive than some of the older students at the high school.

“We don’t want it to be a taboo subject for kids. We want them to feel comfortable to talk to their friends about it,” Sledzianowski said.

Understanding the topic of a loved one dying is very uncomfortable, Sledzianowski said, noting that he has appreciated the students’ openness and engagement, even when they may be more quiet. He said he just wants to show that the Caring Place is available for the students.

Students have shown, Riley said, there is an openness to the Caring Place’s efforts to make this topic easier to deal with.

“This seems like it could be a really nice program that could potentially help a lot of students,” 12th-grader Haylee Sherman said. “It could help students open up and be there for one another.”

Ritzert iterated his belief that as a school system, the district has become more understanding that the struggles students deal with are more than just in the classroom. He also pointed to the importance of schools in students’ lives and support systems.

“If somebody loses a loved one, everybody grieves differently,” Ritzert said. “We’re here for students and school employees, but sometimes we can’t fill that void. Where the Caring Place excels is that is their background.”

Ritzert said his school has been interacting with the Caring Place over the past several years.

“I’ve been to Warrendale to learn more about the program. From the school’s end, we’ve always tried to reach out to students and see what was needed,” Ritzert said. “And Warrendale is not super far away, but it is a drive, so that they were willing to come to us was super nice.”

Ritzert also lauded the Caring Place for being able to interact with students in a way the school might not always be able to, saying that students tend to get information from peers for anything nonacademic-related and trust their peers’ opinions. If the students appreciate the Caring Place’s work, “that’s a powerful way to get the message through.”

Karns City has a two-year contract for its partnership with the Caring Place.

“Starting in the spring, we’ll be doing peer support groups that (Sledzianowski’s) going to run, with myself and my co-counselor, and those are all kids just wanting to do it. As of right now, we’ve had over 50 kids reach out,” Riley said. “So there’s definitely a need for it. Grief is such an uncomfortable thing.”

Riley looks forward to the efforts that will be made, and being there for students.

“It’s hard for adults to talk about, let alone being in middle school and one of your parents dying, or a sibling or other family member,” Riley said. “It’s super nice that this is here for them.”

Ritzert also thinks this partnership is a step in the right direction for building a healthy community.

“What I would hope is when people read this, they look at not just our school, but their local school, and through the lens that we’re trying to do what we can to help our students, and that goes beyond academics,” Ritzert said. “Well-being, difficult challenges of what occurs under the umbrella of mental health, removing stigma and connecting community.”