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Another Empty Seat: Educators’ Experiences With Trauma And Grief After A Student’S Death, Lori G. Berryman

Education Doctorate Dissertations

This phenomenological study utilizes narrative inquiry to analyze four teachers’ perceptions of their lives, occupations, and institutional expectations following a student’s death. Through participant interviews and personal reflections, the researcher observes the effects of a student’s death through a Contemporary Trauma Theory framework. Through this lens, trauma-narratives are a powerful tool in helping those affected by loss reframe the events and understand them in a clearer context. Participants indicated that there is an increase of concern for the parents of the deceased, feelings of guilt and regret, and retraumatization due to the lasting presence of the deceased student. Perceptions of …