Speaker: Samiira Mohamed, MSN

The history of grief support, like so many services, is rooted in deep systemic biases. Beginning with Freud’s claims that we need to talk about grief with therapists and Kubler-Ross’ Five Stages of Grief, our early cultural understanding of what it means to grieve and cope with grief came from observations of white, middle-class, older adults.

Most of the grief research in the early years, and even now, overly represents straight, cis, white people rather than being inclusive of other races and ethnicities and sex and gender identities. That means in the last 40 years, our normative ideas about grief and grief support services emerged across the country based almost exclusively on that foundation. 

Grief support should address various types of loss, not just death loss. Because, despite extensive research on non-death losses, many grief support programs are limited exclusively to bereavement-related grief (grief after a death). They typically don’t offer services for those grieving chronic and ambiguous losses. Non-death, chronic, and ambiguous losses often disproportionality impact communities of color—and yet the support for these types of grief are absent in the communities that need them most.

There is a need for more research and more grief programs and services. But, as we work on those issues as a grief support community, one small thing that we can all do right now is seek out more information and voices that represent grief experiences outside of our own. This is important for all of us, and it is especially important for grief professionals.

Statistics also show that people of color are disproportionately affected by health disparities, including the COVID-19 pandemic, homicide, and gun violence. And while many of us can relate to our grief being disregarded, for Black youth and youth with marginalized identities, grief not only goes unacknowledged, but is often penalized. The result is a concept Dr. Tashel Bordere has identified as suffocated grief, which is rooted in systems of oppression and discrimination.

Speaker: Alexandra Wyman, MS, OTR

Grieving is a tumultuous journey that is unpredictable and can be lifelong. It is hard enough as adults to work through our own grieving process, let alone supporting our children through their own process. To effectively help our children through their grieving process, we first need to address our own grief. This presentation will walk participants through how to work on healing our own core limiting beliefs, messages and projections about how life is “supposed” to go, what a successful life looks like and how we are “supposed” to be as human beings. Children mimic and look to us to guide them throughout life. When we as adults start healing our limiting beliefs and stepping into our purpose,  then we are able to teach and guide our children how to do the same in order to work through their grief. This is especially important for behavioral health professionals to provide tools to the adults, children and families they work with in order to embrace their healing journey. This also offers an opportunity for professionals to work through their own experiences that have impacted them to decrease bias and judgment with those they work.

Speaker: Kiri Meyer, MS, LPC, NCC, RYT-200

Headaches, stomach aches, and grief brain – these are just some of the effects we can see in a grieving body that may seem unrelated to grief on the surface. Our society focuses mainly on the emotional experience of grief, but grief is truly a holistic experience. In this presentation, we will focus on how grief can show up in individual’s bodies in sneaky ways we may not expect and how we can help children and their caregivers attend to these as they arise. We will address a variety of outlets to help children normalize their experience, express themselves through these times, and release some of these “grief side effects” that can physically manifest in a grieving body. When we are able to help children listen to the cues their bodies are giving them, we are able to more effectively help support them and get their needs met.

Speakers: Jim Cubbage; Karen Kirsch, MA

What creates a healing space? Through interactive experiences, reflection, storytelling and question answering you will learn what Wild Grief has discovered and how to incorporate our learning in the programs you run. We are organizing our knowledge within the realms of self, of community and nature. What we have learned overall as well as in this approach can inform changes in your programs and insight in your participants. Wild Grief supports grieving families by facilitating peer support in nature through a variety of programs.

Speaker: Charlene Ray, MSW, LICSW

This presentation is for individuals, families or communities that support children and adolescents who are bereaved by suicide. It is also designed for anyone wanting to learn how to support a loved one or friend who is bereaved by suicide. This presentation will shine light on concepts rarely discussed in our culture:
• Are your experiences ‘normal’?
• Will you find joy again?
• What does useful support for a suicide loss survivor look like?

Speaker: Francesca Lynn Arnoldy, Author, Researcher

We make sense of ourselves, our changing world, and any losses we endure by storying our experiences. In this presentation, we will discuss the Vermont Conversation Lab’s “StoryListening Project” and its application to preparing children for loss and supporting bereaved young people.
Different—yet complementary to—some clinical approaches, StoryListening grief support does not include medical advising or cognitive restructuring, nor does it involve providing solutions, arguments, agreements, or false assurances. During this presentation, we will cover topics including: (1) adopting a stance of engaged neutrality, non-agenda, and acceptance, (2) validating through active, attentive listening, (3) respecting cultures, beliefs, and perspectives, (4) cultivating a non-anxious presence, (5) allowing and welcoming silence, (6) normalizing universal suffering, (7) and remaining calm and non-directive, yet also resourceful—beneficial practices for personal and professional uses alike.

Speakers: Jen McCormick, LICSW; Samiira Mohamed, MSN; Alice Ryan, LICSW; Makenzie Muilenburg, MS, LMHC, NCC; Courtney McGrue, LICSW

This presentation is designed to examine the impacts of traumatic loss for youth in different stages of development from infant to young adulthood. We will explore therapeutic techniques for each stage of development to help all ages of youth process traumatic loss.

Speaker: Jen McCormick, LICSW

This presentation is designed to explore the concept of traumatic grief and its impact on kids and teens. We will look at the developmental stages of kids/teens through the lens of grief and share clinical strategies to support kids and teens in the aftermath of a traumatic loss.

Speakers: Makenzie Muilenburg, MS, LMHC, NCC; Courtney McGrue, LICSW

In this presentation participants will learn about the efficacy of group-based grief support in schools as evidenced by researched backed outcomes. Additionally, participants will learn how to appropriately recruit students, assess appropriateness for the group, and obtain consent for participation. Presenters will share skills, tips, and considerations for facilitating groups. Finally, participants will be provided resources for how to facilitate a grief group in K-12 schools.