January 20, 2027- Communicating Across Complex Situations: Practical Strategies for Difficult Conversations*

Difficult conversations are an inevitable part of grief and bereavement work. Grief support brings people together at times of profound loss, change, vulnerability, and uncertainty, making communication especially consequential. These conversations may occur while supporting a grieving person or family, working with students or patients, supervising staff, teaching or mentoring, collaborating with colleagues, giving or receiving feedback, or navigating organizational change. Even when everyone involved has good intentions, conversations can become frustrating or defensive and result in misunderstanding, disconnection, or conflict.

This interactive webinar examines the social and psychological dynamics that shape difficult conversations before a single word is spoken. Drawing on research in interpersonal communication and social psychology, participants will explore how who we are, what we need and expect, the roles we hold, the situations we are working within, and the meanings we make of other people’s words and actions can shape an interaction. Rather than treating communication as a matter of choosing the “right words,” the session offers a framework for understanding why people can experience the same conversation very differently, and how greater awareness can create room for more thoughtful communication choices.

We will work primarily with scenarios involving grief, bereavement, and support, while also considering how the same communication dynamics appear across the professional relationships and settings represented within the NACG community. Through scenarios, polls, reflection exercises, and discussion, participants will examine how these dynamics shape consequential conversations in practice.

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Explain why good intentions do not necessarily lead to positive communication outcomes.
• Identify factors people bring into conversations that shape how messages are understood and experienced.
• Examine how interpretations influence emotional and behavioral responses.
• Apply reflection questions when preparing for a difficult conversation.

February 24, 2027- Communicating Across Complex Situations: Practical Strategies for Difficult Conversations*

Difficult conversations are rarely difficult simply because people lack communication skills. In grief and bereavement work, several things often matter at the same time. We may need to support someone while respecting their autonomy, provide honest information while remaining responsive to distress, address a problem while preserving trust, support a colleague while meeting other responsibilities, or make an organizational decision while recognizing its impact on grieving people and those who serve them. The need is not simply about having the right intention, and the challenge is not simply about finding the right words. It is recognizing what people are trying to accomplish within the interaction, and what happens when those goals coexist, compete, or conflict.

This interactive webinar introduces a research-informed framework for understanding and navigating different goal situations in difficult conversations. Drawing on theoretical and empirical research in interpersonal communication and social psychology, participants will examine how goals shape communication and why different combinations of goals call for different communication choices. Using primarily grief and bereavement-related scenarios, participants will practice identifying the goals operating within an interaction, examining where they align or come into tension, and considering communication approaches that fit the situation. Attendee-submitted scenarios, polls, reflection activities, and discussion will also allow participants to apply the framework to difficult conversations arising in their own professional roles and settings.

Rather than offering scripted responses, this webinar provides a practical framework for making sound communication judgments in consequential conversations, within grief support and across the many professional relationships that surround bereavement work.

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Identify the goals operating within a difficult conversation.
• Distinguish among coexisting, competing, and conflicting goals.
• Examine how different goal configurations shape communication choices.
• Apply the framework to difficult conversations across professional roles and settings.

*Please note, this is part one of a two-part webinar series. The first webinar will take place on January 20, 2027 and the second webinar will take place on February 24, 2027.

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Mrittika Sen was first drawn to nonprofit management in her late teens, when she co-founded a nonprofit in her hometown of Calcutta, India, along with five adults decades older than her. She has since worked in an international humanitarian agency, facilitated collaboration and communication between organizational representatives within a (then newly-formed) collaborative of 100+ multi-sector organizations in Chicago, and consulted with nonprofit leaders to secure buy-for implementing programs and organizational strategies. Mrittika’s research work at The Ohio State University focused on interpersonal support in domestic abuse as a crisis situation. During her doctoral work at Northwestern University, she continued expanding her research to other crisis contexts, presenting papers, pursuing research internships, and teaching. At the end of her second year in the doctoral program, her daughter Raahi died in sleep to unknown causes. Mrittika was frozen in her tracks, unable to pursue research on crisis and difficult contexts anymore. She was still committed to fulfilling the requirements for the PhD, and to her intellectual interest in social psychological factors and interpersonal dynamics, but had to pivot her focus. For her dissertation, research papers, presentations, and future training and consultation work, she studied interpersonal communication in organizations, specifically that pertaining to change management, partnership effectiveness, and conflict resolution. In her current role, Mrittika has returned to researching the grief experience, and various aspects and impact of support seeking and support provision. As a social psychologist and interpersonal communication researcher, she observes and analyzes complex conversations in close relationships, groups, teams, and organizations. And she keenly studies the people in them!

Continuing Education (CE) Credits: 1.5 continuing education credits available for each webinar
Target Audience: Counselors, Social workers, Bereavement support professionals, school professionals
Instructional Level: Intermediate – This best describes a topic or issue that the audience likely has a theoretical foundation for understanding and/or a working knowledge
Format: Live Interactive Webinar
Cost for webinar series: Free for NACG Members; $100 for Guests without CEs, $115 for Guests with CEs
Registration Deadline: January 20, 2027, at 11:59am ET

Not currently a member? Become a NACG member today! Your membership will provide access to free monthly webinars with CEs on current topics to support you in your work, discounts on educational events, access to all webinar playbacks, and more. To learn more and become a member to access this webinar for no additional cost, visit HERE →

Continuing Education (CE) Provider Information:

Each professional is responsible for the individual requirements as stipulated by their licensing agency. Please contact your individual licensing board/regulatory agency to review continuing education requirements for licensure renewal. Please note: You must attend “live” (in real-time) to earn CEs. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the CE process, please contact Megan Lopez at megan.lopez@childrengrieve.org or at (432) 288-4688.

The National Alliance for Children’s Grief has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7221. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The National Alliance for Children’s Grief is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. Counselors completing this course will receive 1.5 contact hours.

The National Alliance for Children’s Grief is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0689. Social Workers completing this course will receive 1.5 contact hours.

The National Alliance for Children’s Grief is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0238. Counselors completing this course will receive 1.5 contact hours.

National Alliance for Children’s Grief, #1819, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers.  State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. National Alliance for Children’s Grief maintains responsibility for this course.  ACE provider approval period: 07/20/2026 – 07/20/2029. Social workers completing this course will receive 1.5 general continuing education credits.

Refund/cancellation policy: If you need to cancel your registration, please contact Megan Lopez at megan.lopez@childrengrieve.org or at (432) 288-4688. Please note that no refunds will be given.

To request accessibility accommodations: The National Alliance for Children’s Grief is committed to providing universal access to all our events. Please contact Megan Lopez at megan.lopez@childrengrieve.org or at (432) 288-4688 to request disability accommodations. Advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility needs.

System requirements: Participants must have access to a computer, tablet, or mobile device with a reliable internet connection, speakers and microphone, and a webcam for video participation. A device with at least a dual-core processor (2 GHz or higher), 4 GB of RAM, and 64-bit capability is recommended.

Attendance policy: To earn CEs for this event, you must attend the entirety of the event as demonstrated by your autogenerated login and logout time on the Zoom Webinar report and complete an online event evaluation within seven (7) days of the event. Please make sure you are signed into Zoom using the name that matches your professional license and not the name of your place of employment, as there is no way to verify your attendance after the fact if your name does not appear on the Zoom Webinar report. CE certificates will be sent out within 30 days of the educational event. The link for your certificate will come from “certificates@simplecert.net” as the National Alliance for Children’s Grief. Please be sure to add this email to your “safe sender list”. The NACG is unable to process certificates after 90 days from the date of the event. 

CE Certificate retrieval request: The NACG maintains continuing education records for at least six years from the date of completion of the educational event which include: the name and curriculum vitae of the presenter, a record of attendance, an outline of the course, date, and location of the course, and the number of hours for completion of the course. If you attended a CE educational event and need a copy of your CE certificate, please complete this form to obtain a copy: https://nacg.wufoo.com/forms/qfsln7r1twqpty/.
Please note: If the education event was more than 90 days ago, and a required evaluation was not completed, a certificate cannot be provided per the policy.

Grievance policy: Find the link to the NACG’s Continuing Education Grievance Policy HERE. Please complete THIS form to share a grievance with the NACG regarding a continuing education event.