In response to a call from local children’s grief support providers, Safe Crossings Foundation (SCF) presented the 5th Annual Northwest Conference on Childhood Grief. As the leader in funding grief support services for children in the Pacific Northwest, SCF hosted a conference that provided CEUs and the opportunity to build community, share ideas and learn together. This one-day conference was held at the Puget Sound Educational Service District in Renton on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 and focused on the theme of Connecting Children to Grief Support. The conference was designed for grief support providers, including clinicians, therapists, counselors, teachers, school staff, and healthcare workers. Goals for the Conference

• Provide education on best practices through the exchange of timely clinical information, programs, advances in research, and ideas for successful children’s grief support programming
• Provide practical tools and skills to use when supporting grieving children
• Create a space for sharing diverse perspectives, connecting, and learning from each other
• Promote networking and support among colleagues

Our keynote speaker, Dr. David Schonfeld from the University of Southern California’s National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement, addressed both the individual needs of grieving students and the system supports needed for grieving school communities. Dr. Schonfeld is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician and Professor of the Practice of Social Work, Dept. of Children, Youth and Families, in the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work and Pediatrics at USC and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. He is a member the American Academy of Pediatrics Disaster Preparedness Advisory Council and served as a Commissioner for both the National Commission on Children and Disasters and the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission in Connecticut. He was the President of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics (SDBP) from 2006-2007. Learn more about the 2019 conference program HERE!