"Grief counselors" are the humanistic version of clergy. Can't pray or look to God for comfort in the schools so they had to come up with something else.
"Terrible tragedy, but the immediate referral to grief counselors is a modern anomaly. How did the US survive so long without all of this assistance???"
For sure. In about 1951, a Sioux City, Iowa -story meat packing plant was flattened by an explosion. Many were killed and virtually everyone in town lost a friend or neighbor.
We all survived w/o counselors.