New York Life Foundation’s 2024 State of Grief Report Reveals Ongoing Need and Growing Want for Holistic Bereavement Support in Workplaces, Schools, and Communities

Annually commissioned by the New York Life Foundation to evaluate the bereavement landscape, the 2024 State of Grief Report highlights not only the ongoing need, but also a growing desire, for holistic help and support for those experiencing grief in workplaces, schools, and communities.

“Grief is a natural experience, yet a topic not widely discussed,” said Heather Nesle, president of the New York Life Foundation, one of the largest corporate funders of bereavement support. “Our work in the bereavement space has shown the crucial nature of identifying those who are grieving, raising awareness of grief’s impacts, and highlighting the resources that are available. As the need for bereavement support is ever present, the growing interest to do more, particularly from workplace colleagues, teachers, and afterschool professionals, is heartening.”

Seventy-one percent of employed adults indicated being very or somewhat interested in taking voluntary grief support training to help their colleagues through a loss. Other notable findings include:

• Eighty-five percent of those surveyed agreed they would be proud to work at an employer that has publicly committed to being grief-supportive.
• Eighty percent of respondents believe there should be an emphasis on establishing a systemic approach to identifying bereaved children and linking them with support services.
• Eighty-one percent of respondents think that at least one of a bereaved child’s personal documents (i.e., school, medical, government) should indicate their loss.
• Ninety percent of both teachers and afterschool professionals agree that identifying students who have faced a significant death, such as a parent or caregiver, is crucial information that should be included in school records.
• Ninety-two percent of teachers, and eighty-nine percent of afterschool professionals, would like to do more to support grieving students.

New York Life Foundation’s commitment to grief support

Having invested more than $75 million since 2008 to create a comprehensive approach to bereavement support, the New York Life Foundation continually pursues innovative solutions to the challenges of connecting grieving individuals, and those who care about them, with impactful resources. With an initial focus on supporting bereaved children, the team’s efforts have evolved to span workplaces, schools, and communities to meet grieving individuals where they are – and support the whole person as they navigate their grief over time. This work includes:

• New York Life Foundation’s Grief-Supportive Workplace Initiative, which provides companies with manager, colleague, and griever-specific trainings for their workforces.
• New York Life’s Grief-Sensitive Schools Initiative^® (GSSI), which raises awareness about grief and supportive resources in schools through the deployment of the company’s nationwide workforce.
• GSSI+, an expansion of GSSI beyond schools to out-of-school-time settings, such as afterschool and summer programs.
• New York Life Foundation’s efforts to create a culture of grief sensitivity in communities by sharing the importance of identification, documentation, and preparedness in schools, doctors’ offices, and government agencies.

“This year’s State of Grief report provides opportunities for action,” said Maria Collins, vice president of the New York Life Foundation. “We encourage all to reflect on how best to bring these resources to their employers, schools, and communities to support those who may be grieving and to foster a more grief-supportive culture.”

The 2024 State of Grief Report, which also features insights from the New York Life Foundation’s extensive network of bereavement experts, is available here.

Free bereavement resources from the New York Life Foundation can be found here.

2024 State of Grief Report survey methodology

General survey methodology: This pool was conducted by Morning Consult from December 7-12, 2023, among a sample of 1,017 adults. The interviews were conducted online, and the data was weighted to approximate a target sample of adults based on gender, age, race, educational attainment, and region. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

School teacher and afterschool professional survey methodology: This poll was conducted by Morning Consult from December 6-18, 2023, among a sample of 299 current teachers (K-12) and 201 afterschool professionals. Afterschool professionals were defined as employed adults who worked with children in an afterschool setting. Teachers have a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percentage points and afterschool professionals 7 percentage points.

About the New York Life Foundation

Inspired by New York Life’s tradition of service and humanity, the New York Life Foundation has, since its founding in 1979, provided over $440 million in charitable contributions to national and local nonprofit organizations. The Foundation supports programs that benefit young people, particularly in the areas of educational enhancement, childhood bereavement, and social justice. The Foundation also encourages and facilitates the community involvement of employees and agents of New York Life through its Volunteers for Good program and Grief-Sensitive Schools Initiative. To learn more, please visit www.newyorklifefoundation.org.

¹“CDC Provisional Mortality Data, 2022” Provisional Mortality Data — United States, 2022 | MMWR (cdc.gov)

²“Judi’s House/JAG Institute Childhood Bereavement Estimation Model” Childhood Bereavement Estimation Model - Judi's House (judishouse.org)

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