Dave Opalewski, MA
TLC Certified Trainer

Dave Opalewski has been a classroom teacher for twenty-five years and an at-risk counselor for 8 years. Dave has taught at the elementary, middle, high school, and college levels. He has recently retired from the Bridgeport/Spaulding Community Schools and is presently a full-time instructor and Advocate for Freshmen at Central Michigan University in the Teacher Education and Professional Development Department. He has a Bachelor of Science Degree and a Masters of Arts Degree from Central Michigan University. Dave's Masters Degree is in Secondary Education with a Health Education emphasis. His Masters Thesis is titled "Death Education: Guidelines For The Classroom Teacher."  Dave has taught Death Education for Delta College and Death and Dying and Suicide Prevention for Central Michigan University.  He is the author of 5 books titled "Confronting Death in the School Family," "Suicide Prevention for Schools and Communities." “Adolescent Grief Issues: Help for the Caring Adult,” “Guiding the Grieving Child,” and “Root Issues of Student Behavior Problems.”Dave also has three years experience working in a funeral home helping the family and friends of the deceased cope with their loss. He has been a member and has led crisis teams for schools who have lost students and staff due to illness, accidents, and suicide. His experiences of what works and what doesn't work, plus a desire to share this information, has encouraged him to help create "Crises Response to Tragedy," and "Suicide Prevention Programs."He has also coached interscholastic athletics for twenty-two years and has developed many quality relationships with students and parents in the communities he has worked. Although teams he has coached have won numerous honors, he is more fulfilled by the quality of relationships that has developed between players, coaches, parents, and the community.

Dave presents the following courses:

Adolescent Grief

Adolescents are not supposed to experience death. Although it should never happen, the harsh reality is that it does, and when it does, it is a terrible shock for the adolescent. This course will help you, as the caring adult, be a guide through this troubling time by helping you understand what the adolescent is going through and giving you comprehensive techniques to address the situation. This is a time when a caring, unassuming adult can make a positive difference in a young person by fostering growth and maturity. Click for session objectives.  Also available online.

Confronting Death in the School Family

The death of a student or staff member can devastate a school and its surrounding community. Often these tragedies occur with little or no warning, which means school administration are left with little or no time to come to terms with the tragedy before they are forced to make decisions that affect the entire community.  If you have ever experienced such a crisis, then you know just how painful and difficult this can be.This course is based on the belief that the people best equipped to deal with a tragedy in the school are the school’s very own teachers, counselors, administrators and staff. When tragedy strikes a school family, many school administrators look upon the incident as a “guidance department issue.” I strongly disagree.  I see this and hope you will also see this “as a school family issue.” In excess of 80% of thousands of students I have spoke with in over 30 states state the person they most wish to speak to at school following a tragedy is their classroom teacher.  They also state that their greatest need immediately following a tragedy is for comfort instead of counseling.  The counselors do have a very important function (which will be explored in this course) and that function is to counsel after the comfort and diffusing activities have taken place in the classroom.  This protocol is in line with recent brain research stating that a quality sensory connection (comfort) must be in place before a quality cognitive connection (counseling) can occur. Also available online.

Suicide Intervention

This presentation will identify warning signs and high risk factors leading to suicidal attempts. Characteristics of potentially suicidal child/youth, specific interventions strategies and skills including legal responsibilities, assessment of risk and what is necessary to help prevent contagion following an actual completion. Develop specific intervention skills with survivors of suicide including organized responses necessary in school settings and the ways grief following suicide differs from grief following non-suicidal losses. Click for session objectives.  Also available online.