Project Joy and Hope Education Classroom teachers in Texas receive little, if any, training in issues of life and loss transition. Adolescence is arguably one of the most difficult and confusing stages in life development. It is a time of multiple and rapid change. Every change is accompanied with a grieving process. To illustrate: *When a brother or sister moves out of the house to get married or go to school, the remaining teenager must adjust to life in the home without their sibling. Meals, routines, and family events will not be spent together with the frequency of the past. *Divorce in a family initiates a grieving process as one parent must leave the home. *Loss or death of a pet can bring about profound grief in many children and adults alike. A pet is one of the few sources of unconditional love that life affords us, and losing a pet generates great pain. *Sexually molested or physically abused children experience the loss of innocence and control of their bodies, an intensely painful form of grief. *Abortion: Despite one's personal or legal views on this issue, when abortion occurs, a very real loss is experienced both by the mother and father, and underlying family issues can exacerbate these feelings of grief even more intensely. This loss frequently resurfaces later in life with subsequent pregnancies. *Dating, while a very normal adolescent behavior, also incorporates grief as relationships grow, then dissolve, and they seek to discover themselves. *In addition to any or all of these adolescent experiences, the loss and grief due to the death of a loved one creates a tremendous amount of stress, pain and suffering for the student. *Moreover, traumatic death (i.e. murder, suicide, school violence) is a devastating experience that leaves loved ones shattered and isolated. Realistically, few students actually go to the school counselor with their problems and struggles in the midst of grief and loss. Most remain in the classroom, with their bereavement undetected and/or ignored by the classroom instructor. Many times this oversight is rooted in lack of knowledge, understanding, and skills in working with the student experiencing grief and loss. Further complicating the issue is the parent's lack of understanding about childhood, adolescent, and adult grief and loss. From a medical perspective, physicians in the United States rarely receive medical education in palliative and end of life care. Taught to cure, the medical community often fails to utilize palliative medicine in treatment of patients with life-limiting illness.