The Wilson Counseling Center hosted “Move Through the Winter Blahs” Grief-Lessons from Lions. This event explained what Disney’s “The Lion King” teaches about unhealthy and healthy ways of dealing with grief and depression. 

This event was offered in person and virtually, and aimed to educate students on how to deal with grief and depression. The characters in “The Lion King” were used to illustrate how these difficult emotions can be handled more effectively. 

Patricia Glascock, associate director of the Wilson Counseling Center, said grief can come in many forms. 

“Grief has to do with any type of loss: students who’ve lost scholarships, people who’ve lost pets and especially students who’ve lost friends or family members,” Glascock said. 

A way of simplifying the magnitude of talking about something as serious as depression and grief was Glascock’s ultimate goal.

“We often avoid talking about depression; we often avoid talking about grief, so this helps to get the information out there, and using the slides that I do from ‘The Lion King’ movie, it’s an interesting way,” Glascock said. “It’s a different way than just presenting information.”

Glascock said she used slides that were created by Chaplain Greg Adams at Arkansas Children’s Hospital years ago when he wanted a way to talk about grief with children. When the original “The Lion King” came out, Adams received permission from Disney to use the slides.

Amber Long Martin, Director of Wilson Counseling Center, said grief and depression are not things meant to be experienced alone. 

“We’re not meant to go through life and the circumstances that life can give us by ourselves. We all need support, we all need help, and having a situation or an event like this allows us to find connections with others, community and that experience,” Martin said. 

Devin Nelson, associate counselor for the Wilson Counseling Center, said grief and depression is a bigger and more complicated topic than people might think. 

“Complex is the first word that comes to mind. Grief and depression is never an easy topic, and it looks so different individually for everybody. You can be depressed without grieving, or they can happen at the same time,there’s no right or wrong way to experience either one of those things,” Nelson said. 

Glascock said Simba was the main character in “The Lion King” who displayed grief and depression.

“What does he do? He doesn’t run back to those who love him. He doesn’t run back to his pride. He runs away. So his first mistake in dealing with this loss, this grief, the death of his father, is he runs away. Instead of going somewhere where he can get support,” Glascock said.

Martin said “The Lion King” was a great format to explore grief and depression, commending Glascock’s idea.

“It’s nice to see something that’s relatable,” Martin said. “We think of Simba and he’s got this big journey that he has to overcome, but I don’t know that we ever really sit and think about his grief of the loss of his father.”

Categories: Life