Handling Heartbreak, with Angela Terpstra

On Educating Girls: Creating a World of Possibilities

“With grief, for me personally, the main thing is letting myself feel it and not trying to pretend it hasn’t happened…Rather than hiding it, I give myself permission to deal with it.
(Wycombe student)
What we know for sure is that at some point the girls in our life will grieve a loss in their family, in their school or church community, in their world. It might be a break up with a first true love, a move away from friends, the loss of an adored pet, a parents’ divorce, the loss of a safe relationship–or worse, the death of a loved one, and might likely be a loss of a relationship that sustained her through thick and thin. She will be heartbroken. Walking the path of sorrow and sadness with her can break our hearts, too. Every type of grief is different and every one of us grieves differently; there is no grief handbook, but that is not a reason to dodge this important conversation.
Listen in as Angela Terpstra, the Head of School at Bishop Strachan School in Canada, shares her compelling story of leading her school community through several significant losses. It is in the times of deepest loss that we lean heaviest into the communities that know and support us. Angela’s story inspires even as it reminds us why connecting a girl to her grief, and supporting her as she walks “with” grief can help her shape and reframe the many and varied emotions that will flow from that loss.
Resources:
Bishop Strachan School: https://www.bss.on.ca/
International Coalition of Girls Schools: https://girlsschools.org/
Tell Our Story :https://girlsschools.org/advocacy/blog/2022/07/13/the-icgs-community-poem/ National Coalition of Girls' Schools · Transcript: Handling Heartbreak, with Angela Terpstra.pdf — PDF (99.4 KB)