Supporting Adolescents and Young Adults in Their Grief Journey

Supporting Adolescents and Young Adults in Their Grief Journey

This engaging presentation will provide helpful strategies when working with adolescents and young adults who are grieving the death of a loved one. We will discuss grief reactions and changes in family dynamics, as well as ways to promote supportive relationships. We will examine interactive activities and creative approaches in young adult programming.

members only iconThis playback is available to active NACG members only.

Members must be logged into the member portal to access the playback. 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) credits are not available for webinar playbacks. 
Target Audience: Counselors, Social workers, Bereavement support professionals
Instructional Level: Intermediate – This best describes a topic or issue the audience likely has a theoretical foundation for understanding and/or working knowledge.
Format: Live Interactive Webinar

 

Objectives:

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

  • Describe helpful strategies when working with adolescents and young adults who have experienced a death.
  • Identify various creative activities that are helpful when working with young adults.
  • Create various interactive activities for young adult programming.

 

Speaker Bios:

Dana Minor is the Program Director at The WARM Place, a grief support center for children, in Fort Worth, TX. She started at The WARM Place in 1994 and has served as a houseparent, facilitator, monitor, and group director. Dana has over 25 years of experience working in children’s bereavement and began her work at El Tesoro de la Vida Grief Camp. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor and Certified School Counselor. Dana served on the Speaker’s Bureau for the National Center for Youth Issues and has taught a variety of courses in the field of psychology at Tarrant County College.

 

New York Life Foundation logo

Supported by the philanthropic investment
of the New York Life Foundation.

CBEM Key Topic Report 2024: The Relationship between Childhood Bereavement and Household Income

The Childhood Bereavement Estimation Model (CBEM) developed by Judi’s House/JAG Institute approximates rates of U.S. children who will experience the death of a parent or sibling by the time they reach adulthood. Each year, Judi’s House releases standard estimates of childhood bereavement rates in the U.S. and all 50 states, as well as a CBEM Key Topic Report exploring factor of interest, such as geography, cause of death, race/ethnicity. This webinar reviews the 2024 CBEM Key Topic Report examining the relationship between childhood bereavement and household income in the United States. Income is a critical social determinant of health that is associated with a range of outcomes, including early mortality. Overall, findings from CBEM analyses show that lower income is powerfully associated with higher childhood bereavement rates. In the vast majority of U.S. states, children in the lowest income counties had the highest bereavement rates, and the magnitude of the difference was typically substantial.

During this webinar, the presenters will review the process employed to create income categories in each state, describe the methodology for the analyses, and summarize the results across the 50 states. Implications of the findings for families, community organizations, advocates, and policymakers will be explored along with recommendations for transformational change.

Download the slides →

 

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) credits are not available for webinar playbacks.
Target Audience: Counselors, Social workers, Bereavement support professionals
Instructional Level: Basic – This best describes a topic or issue that the prospective audience is encountering for the first time in a meaningful way.
Format: Live Interactive Webinar

 

Objectives:

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the relationship between median household income and childhood bereavement rates in the United States.
  • Quantify the magnitude of the difference in CBEM results for children in each US state’s lowest and highest median household income counties.
  • Propose policies and practices that can address childhood bereavement using income disparities as an important context.

 

Speaker Bios:

Jeff Lin, PhD, is the Director of Evaluation and Research of Judi’s House/JAG Institute. He has a passion for applying research evidence to develop public policies and practices that best serve the community. With decades of experience working in partnership with public and non-profit agencies, he has seen the impact that good research can have on people’s lives. Jeff was a sociology professor for 15 years, focusing his research and teaching on addressing pressing public issues such as criminal justice and youth services reforms. This experience deeply informs his commitment to producing data and evidence that can help bereaved children and families.

Michaeleen (Micki) Burns, PhD, is the Chief Executive Officer at Judi’s House/JAG Institute (JH/JAG) and adjunct faculty at the University of Colorado. JH/JAG is a comprehensive family bereavement center in Metro Denver. She serves on the board of the National Alliance for Children’s Grief and is an advisor to Speaking Grief, a national public media initiative seeking to the grief experience. A Licensed Psychologist with more than two decades of experience providing therapeutic assessment and support to families facing adversity, Micki has witnessed the lasting impact of unaddressed grief. Her practice is focused on supporting families who have experienced the loss of a child and specializes in working with those grieving suicide and overdose deaths. She is dedicated to ensuring appropriate care is available for all and raising childhood bereavement to a level of critical public importance. Before becoming the CEO, Micki oversaw the direct service, research, and training departments at JH/JAG, working towards a vision where no child is alone in grief.

 

New York Life Foundation logo

Supported by the philanthropic investment
of the New York Life Foundation.

Introduction to Grief Support Series | Attachment Theory and the Enduring Impact on Grief

Attachment Theory offers profound insights into how individuals form and maintain emotional bonds, regulate their emotions, and adapt to change throughout their lives. From birth, our attachment style is formed within the context of relationships and influences our sense of self, identity, and values. When experiencing grief and loss, our attachment style directly impacts how we grieve and relate to others. Throughout this presentation we will discuss attachment styles across the lifespan, how those styles can impact grief reactions, attachment theory’s role in healing, and strategies and interventions to navigate grief within the framework of attachment theory.

members only iconThis playback is available to active NACG members only. 

Members must be logged into the member portal to access the playback. 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 →

 

Target Audience: Students, interns, individuals entering the field of childhood bereavement, new staff members, new counselors, group facilitators, volunteers, anyone who wants to invest in their practice.
Instructional Level: Novice – This best describes a topic or issue that the prospective audience is encountering for the first time in a meaningful way.
Format: Live Interactive Webinar

 

Objectives:

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the four attachment styles and discern the potential difference in grief responses.
  • Identify how attachment styles can be utilized to promote healing.
  • Gain skills in applying attachment theory in therapeutic settings.

 

Speaker Bio:

Jordan Park, LMFT, received her Master’s Degree at Oklahoma State University in Human Development and Family Science with an option in Marriage and Family Therapy in 2017. She has served in various roles throughout her 5 years of employment at Calm Waters, and is currently a full-time therapist, seeing individuals, families, and couples who have experienced a death and/or divorce. She is very passionate about healthy relationships and encourages individuals to know they are worthy of love and of being seen, heard, and valued.

Heather Gaglio, LMFT, received her Master’s degree at Oklahoma State University in Human Development and Family Science with an option in Marriage and Family Therapy in 2012. She is a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist (LMFT) and an Approved Supervisor through the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT). Heather has over 10 years of clinical experience and has worked in non-profit and private practice settings. Heather has been involved in supporting research in the field of Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood programs as well. As the current Clinical Director at Calm Waters in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Heather oversees a team of therapists and clinical interns who provide over 250 hours of grief counseling to nearly 150 clients each month. She is passionate about increasing access of grief support and educating the community about healthy and helpful ways to support children and families through grief and loss so that no one has to grieve alone.

 

Terrific or Terrifying? How to Engage Tweens in a Peer Support Grief Group

Are you afraid of tweens? There seems to be a universal belief that they are a bit of an anomaly. They lie in this no man’s land between child and teen. Their peers are the mirror they hold up to themselves and so is society and social media. The adolescent is trying to discover who they are as an individual while fiercely craving to fit in with their cohorts. Grief is a deeply personal and complex emotional process that can profoundly impact adolescents’ lives, relationships, and academic performance. When you combine the awkwardness of being a tween and grief, you’ve got a recipe for a complicated population of grievers. By gaining a better understanding of the unique challenges faced by grieving middle schoolers, we can offer the support and resources to help them navigate through this difficult journey. This presentation identifies the developmental and social factors that come into play for adolescents and how those may impact peer support group dynamics. Participants have the opportunity to integrate this knowledge into action by practicing activities that can foster engagement and connection among tweens in peer support groups.

members only iconThis playback is available to active NACG members only.

Members must be logged into the member portal to access the playback. 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) credits are not available for webinar playbacks. 
Target Audience: Counselors, Social workers, Bereavement support professionals
Instructional Level: Basic – This best describes a topic or issue that the prospective audience is encountering for the first time in a meaningful way
Format: Live Interactive Webinar

 

Objectives:

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

  • Identify developmental factors that influence a middle school-aged child’s grieving process.
  • Restate the relation of development to social factors and how they impact the peer support dynamic.
  • Demonstrate activities that can be adapted to a peer support grief group for middle school-aged children.

 

Speaker Bios:

Mimi Dambro, MSW, LSW, has been the Assistant Director of Programs at Peter’s Place: A Center for Grieving Children & Families for the past 3 years. Through her experience, she has run onsite and school-based peer support groups for children ages four through high school as well as groups for adult caregivers. In addition to her facilitation experience, Mimi has created numerous curriculums, grief modules, and activity book bags for middle school and high school aged youth. Prior to her time at Peter’s Place, Mimi worked with children and families at the University of Pennsylvania’s Interdisciplinary Child Advocacy Clinic working with youth in foster care. She has spent time as well working for Child Guidance Resource Centers in their school-based program working with children grades kindergarten through 8th grade. Mimi is a licensed social worker who earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Bloomsburg University and her master’s degree in Social work from the University of Pennsylvania. Mimi’s passion for supporting youth and families is what connects her to working in the realm of childhood bereavement.

Pat Wong Connolly, LCSW, CT, is an Onsite Group Facilitator at Peter’s Place: A Center for Grieving Children & Families, located in Radnor, PA and serving the Greater Philadelphia area. Her work focuses on developing and facilitating peer support groups for children and caregivers as well as designing and implementing volunteer training. She has over 10 years of experience working with various populations in bereavement, private practice and higher education settings. Pat earned her master’s degree in college counseling and student development from the University of Delaware and her master’s in social services from Bryn Mawr College. She is a licensed clinical social worker and certified thanatologist, who maintains a private practice, supporting individuals through grief and life transitions.

 

New York Life Foundation logo

Supported by the philanthropic investment
of the New York Life Foundation.

Introduction to Grief Support Series | Grief Comes in All Shapes and Sizes

Professionals working in the field of loss and bereavement are accustomed to supporting families in need after a death has occurred. Yet many families experience grief at the time of diagnosis leading up to the actual death. This reaction, otherwise known as anticipatory grief, is what families are immediately coping with as their world changes drastically.

This workshop will address anticipatory grief; why and how it is a unique type of grief and how it impacts children’s developmental stages. It will also cover therapeutic interventions such as bibliotherapy, creative arts, and play techniques. Emphasis on legacy building and holding space for families and their grief journey will also be presented. The presenters will also leave time for discussion.

members only iconThis playback is available to active NACG members only. 

Members must be logged into the member portal to access the playback. 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 →

 

Target Audience: Students, interns, individuals entering the field of childhood bereavement, new staff members, new counselors, group facilitators, volunteers, anyone who wants to invest in their practice.
Instructional Level: Novice – This best describes a topic or issue that the prospective audience is encountering for the first time in a meaningful way.
Format: Live Interactive Webinar

 

Speaker Bio:

Shani Thornton, MS, CCLS, has been a Certified Child Life Specialist for 17 years. She started her career in a pediatric inpatient rehabilitation setting, transitioned to the community, and launched a private practice in the Sacramento region of Northern California. Shani supports families coping with life’s challenges of illness, trauma, loss, and transitions. Using therapeutic play, creative arts, education, and empathy, she helps children process these challenges and create a coping plan to support their needs. She offers in-home visits, phone/virtual consultations, caregiver workshops, and support to community programs, hospice agencies, and schools. Shani’s expertise has been working with families coping with a terminal diagnosis, end-of-life support, and grief. She recently co-authored a chapter on private practice in The Role of Child Life Specialists in Community Settings. She has been a chair member of the Association of Child Life Professionals and the California Association of Play Therapy and volunteers as a burn camp leader for the Firefighters Burn Institute. Shani is a sought-after presenter for many local, regional, and national conferences and reaches many followers through her insightful blogs and publications.

Corrie Sirota, MSW, holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from McGill University, (Montreal, Canada) as well as a Graduate Certificate in Loss and Bereavement where she continues to teach. As a licensed psychotherapist, Corrie maintains a private practice specializing in Loss and Bereavement, Parenting, Stress management, and Relationship issues. She is the author of “Someone Died…Now What – A personal and professional perspective on coping with grief and loss” and “Loss & Found – A grief activity journal. Corrie is also the Clinical Director of Myra’s Kids Foundation which holds a weekend bereavement camp for children ages 6-17.

Corrie is the co-host of Life Unrehearsed – a weekly radio show on CJAD 800 about the ins and outs of everyday life. She is also a well-known guest speaker, having presented at numerous conferences and workshops, both locally and nationally and continues to develop and facilitate psycho-social prevention and intervention workshops for school professionals, students, camping staff, various community agencies, organizations, and businesses. Corrie delivered a TEDx presentation in Oct 2019 entitled, Creating New Normals after Someone You Loved Died. She is frequently interviewed on many local radio, news, and TV programs on various issues relating to loss and bereavement, how to cope with crisis, child development, and parenting. She is married and has two children and loves to laugh.

 

Compassionate Leadership: Moving in and Through Difficult Conversations in the Workplace

Compassionate leadership shines a light on strengths-oriented, wellness-centered, trauma-informed practices as the foundation for our communications and organizational culture. This workshop will explore interpersonal and organizational strategies to enhance workplace wellness and collaboration, including leadership styles and how they impact our work, ideas for constructively giving and receiving feedback, and how to build a culture of team and gratitude. Participants will walk away shored up with ideas for moving in and through potentially difficult conversations with increased clarity and effectiveness.

members only iconThis playback is available to active NACG members only.

Members must be logged into the member portal to access the playback. 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) credits are not available for webinar playbacks. 
Target Audience: Counselors, Social workers, Bereavement support professionals
Instructional Level: Basic – This best describes a topic or issue that the prospective audience is encountering for the first time in a meaningful way
Format: Live Interactive Webinar

 

Objectives:

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

  • Name four leadership styles and how they impact workplaces.
  • Identify one strategy for effectively giving and/or receiving feedback.
  • Identify one strategy for creating or promoting organizational wellness.

 

Speaker Bios:

Dr. Tina Barrett, LCPC specializes in strength-oriented care and fostering resilience following traumatic experiences and attachment breaks. A licensed clinical professional counselor, Barrett integrates stories and experiences from over 25 years of work in hospitals, schools, group homes, private practice, wilderness therapy, and nonprofit grief centers. As the Executive Director of Tamarack Grief Resource Center, her commitment to excellence in grief and trauma care is matched by her profound commitment to healthy organizations and setting teams up for success. Barrett is the author of numerous chapters and articles and serves on the Board of Directors for the National Alliance for Children’s Grief; the Leadership Team for Project Tomorrow Montana; and on the Advisory Board for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. She was recognized as the 2019 Community Educator by the Association of Death Educators and Counselors.

Meg Smith, MA is the Assistant Director for Tamarack Grief Resource Center. She’s been with TGRC for 5 years, managing the administrative functioning of the nonprofit, including clinic management, technology, operations, HR, and development. She has an MA in Environmental Humanities and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Public Administration. Her background is in nonprofit efficiency, creating systems and policies to bolster efficiency and efficacy. She has grant writing and development training from the University of Montana and experience building systems from the ground up from her work developing a quarterly magazine with Families for a Livable Climate. She trained as an educator and worked in Missoula County Public Schools.

 

New York Life Foundation logo

Supported by the philanthropic investment
of the New York Life Foundation.

In Today’s World: Cultivating Collective Intercultural Wellbeing and a Sense of Belonging in the Community

In today’s multiple pandemics of oppression, mass trauma, forced migration, COVID-19, and climate change, there is sustained traumatic stress with corresponding opportunities to heal. Historic, collective, and intergenerational trauma have spread dis-ease throughout human nature. Humanity has experienced more and more fragmentation, collective violence, and isolation.

In this workshop attendees will begin to understand the effects of collective loss due to war, persecution, and terrorism, its impact on children and families, as well as healing through the re-establishment of belonging. “Humans sitting within trauma from war, persecution, and terrorism tell us over and over again how much the systems of oppression need to change for healing to occur. In fact, they state that the first step in healing is not so much about revealing the darkest traumatic memories. The greatest healing, they report, is having a sense of belonging in the community.” (St. Thomas, Sheffield and Johnson. (2024) Collective Trauma and Human Suffering.)

Participants will learn the growing pains and evolution of a 25 year old bereavement and intercultural program. We will share a documentary film on collective loss produced by the Intercultural Advisory Council at the Center for Grieving Children in Maine. This documentary shares the added complexities of cross cultural definitions of collective loss, grief, as well as acculturative stress. We will explore inhibitors of cross-cultural communication and the five essentials of collective healing towards belonging.

members only iconThis playback is available to active NACG members only.

Members must be logged into the member portal to access the playback. 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) credits are not available for webinar playbacks.
Target Audience: Counselors, Social workers, Bereavement support professionals
Instructional Level: Basic – This best describes a topic or issue that the prospective audience is encountering for the first time in a meaningful way.
Format: Live Interactive Webinar

 

Objectives:

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

  • Identify at least three strategies in bringing belonging to intercultural settings.
  • Identify the top three inhibitors to cross-cultural communication.
  • Learn the five essentials to collective healing.
  • Explore and identify at least one initiative in implementing collective healing into their organization.
  • Identify at least two added barriers to healing when resettling from war and persecution.

 

Speaker Bios:

Marie Sheffield, MA, LCPC, is a clinical counselor, art therapist, co-author and interculturalist, working in the field of mass trauma, intercultural communication and collective healing. In addition to being an adjunct professor at University of Southern Maine, she has spent two decades enhancing and implementing a collective healing and intercultural model with those resettling from war and persecution. Additionally, over the course of ten years, Marie was one of two mental health consultants for America’s Camp, a six day overnight camp supporting children who lost a parent(s) on 9.11, or in the course of duty. At the Center for Grieving Children, while developing intercultural and diversity training curriculum, she established an Intercultural Advisory Council producing documentary films and community conversations across differences. Marie also completed a fellowship with the Intercultural Communication Institute. Since then, Marie has become a senior facilitator of Personal Leadership (plseminars.com) and incorporates this model in all of her work. As co-founder of Bridge to Belong Consulting (bridge2belong.com), her training and consultations are focused on bringing skills of collective healing support into the healthcare, education and community systems.

 

Justine Mugabo, BS, is the Intercultural Program Coordinator at the Center for Grieving Children. She works with facilitators in social and educational institutions to provide collective healing support and growth for children resettling from war and persecution. She states that her passion is to “help people in achieving their dreams and goals.” According to Justine, “Our goal at the Center is to help children and families to find hope and love and increase belonging in order to express feelings safely relative to the grief and loss. Such building of community resilience is a resource to persevere in the World.”

Justine is a Board Member for In Her Presence, an immigrant owned non-profit supporting asylum seeking women in navigating pathways forward. She collaborates in developing policy, programming, and resources and provides direct support. She also spends her time on the board of Double Hope Children, an immigrant owned non-profit working to support the needs of children resettling from war and persecution.

Before resettling into the United States herself, Justine worked in customer service management with the Mobile Telephone Network of Rwanda. With her lived experience, training and leadership position Justine has developed effective skills in intercultural communication, collective healing support and knowledge.

 

New York Life Foundation logo

Supported by the philanthropic investment
of the New York Life Foundation.

The Future of Grief Camps: Themes and Standards in a Changing World

There are so many ways we are seeing shifts in how we support youth and families experiencing grief, from shifting camp models to creating more accessibility throughout a program. While there is so much power in how diverse bereavement camps have become, it can also feel important to come back together as a field to collectively share our foundation for these camps and how we plan to move forward as a field.

Join us for a panel discussion where professionals from the bereavement and camp fields come together to highlight important themes and standards for bereavement camps today and looking forward. Topics such as expanding the definition of wellbeing to actively working on creating equitable and inclusive camp spaces. The panel will share their thoughts around these important themes and more. We will also address the updated Bereavement Camp Standards of Practice as a practical tool for the bereavement and camp fields.

members only iconThis playback is available to active NACG members only.

Members must be logged into the member portal to access the playback. 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) credits are not available for webinar playbacks.
Target Audience: Counselors, Social workers, Bereavement support professionals
Instructional Level: Basic – This best describes a topic or issue that the prospective audience is encountering for the first time in a meaningful way.
Format: Live Interactive Webinar

 

Objectives:

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

  • Investigate key themes in the bereavement camp field where shifts are being seen.
  • Inform bereavement professionals of the free Bereavement Camp Standards of Practice resource to help inform bereavement camp standards across the field.
  • Appraise minimum practices and standards to ensure a safer bereavement camp experience for participants.

 

Speaker Bios:

Kiri Meyer (Moderator and Panelist) is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Wisconsin, a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC), and a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200). Kiri has spent over a decade helping to support individuals and families of all ages through individual/family counseling and camp-based programs. Kiri supports camp and other non-profit programs by acting as a Mental Health Professional throughout the camp program or as needed for other programs. She has conducted trainings in the areas of trauma and bereavement throughout her professional career and is now part of the Eluna Camp Erin team helping to support professionals in the Camp Erin network.

Dr. Tina Barrett (Panelist) is the Executive Director/Co-founder of Tamarack Grief Resource Center in Montana.  Since 1994, Barrett has specialized in family systems, strength-oriented and outdoor-based support following grief and trauma. Her doctoral research illuminated benefits of youth bereavement camps. Over the past 30 years, Barrett has focused on best practices of nature-based support with trauma survivors and family-systems. She has designed and directed various models of grief camps for youth, teens, women, families, and professionals in Montana and six other states including A Camp to Remember which she launched in 1997. She served on the Board of Directors for the National Alliance for Children’s Grief (NACG), and currently serves on the Leadership Team of Project Tomorrow Montana and the Advisory Board for Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. Barrett received the Community Educator Award from Association for Death Educators and Counselors (ADEC) in 2019.

John Hamilton, MA, (Panelist) is a strategic leader in the camp and out-of-school time (OST) space. He currently serves as Chief Strategy Officer for the Alliance for Camp Health. John has a deep understanding of mental, emotional, and social health (MESH +) of youth and national program expansion. Prior to ACH he served as the national director for Camp HOPE America. John has an MA in Leadership and Cultural Justice, is the cofounder of the Outdoor Wellbeing Lab, and is a former executive director of a camp near Lake Tahoe.

Katie Hartley, LPC, has been a Licensed Professional Counselor since 1989 and has worked with children and youth her entire career. Her practice has included work with many populations, emphasizing developmental theory and non-verbal interactions utilizing the creative arts. Katie served as an adjunct professor at Drexel as well as internship supervisor for many years. She has worked in private practice, with school districts, developmental centers and created an arts center for therapeutic work. Katie’s current role at Penn Medicine is as a children’s bereavement coordinator and clinical director for Camp Erin (a weekend camp for grieving youth). She continues to use the creative arts and has completed MBSR training and uses mindfulness and meditation within her work often.

Brianne “Brie” Overton, FT, LPC, NCC, (Panelist) is the Chief Clinical Officer of Experience Camps, a national nonprofit that provides no-fee, clinically informed programs for kids who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling or primary caregiver – as well as resources and advocacy so all grieving children can live a life rich with possibility. Brie received her MA in Thanatology from Hood College, her M.Ed in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from University of Missouri – St. Louis, and is a doctoral candidate in counseling at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. She has spent 16 years in the field of thanatology providing grief education, support, counseling, death education, suicide prevention and intervention, and consultation.

Jason Stout, for more than two decades, has been helping youth and adults find their inner strength, form meaningful connections, and experience personal transformation through adventure challenge and time in nature. His passion for this work is rooted in the losses of his sister, grandmother, and father — all before Jason was 15 years old. He struggled to deal with these losses as a teen and adult, but he found purpose and healing after completing a 78-day Winter Wilderness Leadership Expedition.   In honor of his dad and sister, Jason created a national wilderness program for at-risk and grieving teens, which was featured in Backpacker Magazine, The Denver Post, and the Associated Press. Jason is founder of Stoutreach LLC where he provides training, consultation, and facilitation to outdoor education, wilderness therapy, and gap year programs.  In addition, he serves as an advisor to TAPS where he manages, develops, and facilitates a variety of programming including mindfulness and healing in nature for youth and adult military survivors.  Previously he served Judi’s House as Outreach and Education Manager and Outward Bound as the National Outreach Director.

 

New York Life Foundation logo

Supported by the philanthropic investment
of the New York Life Foundation.

Silent Suffering: Supporting Youth Grieving Stigmatized Loss

This session will focus on supporting individuals who have experienced a stigmatized loss, including loss by suicide, homicide, and addiction. Presenters will review grief occurrence data for children and youth, along with practical understandings of relevant grief theories to guide practice with this bereaved population. As stigmatized loss is often accompanied by feelings of shame, guilt, and anger, it is vital for those working in the field to better understand the impact of stigmatized grief and loss on children and families. Several of the challenging components of working with those bereaved by stigmatized loss will be explored. Presenters will discuss important therapeutic techniques, interventions, and conversations for youth and caregivers, including best practices for helping children understand death by suicide, homicide, and/or addiction. Stigmatized losses often occur after traumatic lives. Therefore, aspects of understanding the impact of trauma on youth will also be explored. Presenters will provide several opportunities for experiential learning as we discuss and practice activity and body-based interventions for children and families. Finally, attendees will be provided with a multitude of resources to better understand and work with stigmatized loss and continue to inform practice.

members only iconThis playback is available to active NACG members only.

Members must be logged into the member portal to access the playback. 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) credits are not available for webinar playbacks. 
Target Audience: Counselors, Social workers, Bereavement support professionals
Instructional Level: Intermediate – This best describes a topic or issue the audience likely has a theoretical foundation for understanding and/or working knowledge.
Format: Live Interactive Webinar

 

Objectives:

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

  • Define stigmatized loss.
  • Identify at least two theories of grief that can be adapted to work with a population bereaved by stigmatized loss.
  • Utilize two body-based interventions for traumatic loss in children and youth.
  • Identify best practices to discuss stigmatized loss with youth.
  • Identify two online resources for further information on stigmatized loss faced by children and families.

 

Speaker Bios:

Jodi Flesner, Ph.D., LPC, is a clinical supervisor, licensed therapist, and program coordinator at Heartlinks Grief Center. Jodi completed her master’s degree in Community Counseling at Loyola University Chicago in 2007 and her doctoral degree in Counselor Education and Supervision from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 2015. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor in both Illinois and Missouri. Jodi has worked at Heartlinks for seven years where she conducts individual and family counseling, group counseling, community outreach to support those grieving in the community, and various grief support groups at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Prior to that she worked as a doctoral intern at hospice for two years where she conducted individual and family bereavement support services, group counseling, and counseling at multiple grief/bereavement retreats and camps. She has taught multiple master’s level counseling courses, published a peer-reviewed article titled, “A Shift in the Conceptual Understanding of Grief: Using Meaning-Oriented Therapies with Bereaved Clients,” and completed multiple presentations in the area of bereavement including grief and coping in caregivers, theories of grief over time, exploring stigmatized loss, the importance of meaning making after a death loss, and the importance of infusing death education into counseling programs.

Diana Cuddeback, LCSW, is the Founding Director of Heartlinks Grief Center in Belleville, Illinois. Since her first Children’s Grief Group in 1991, Diana has provided children, families, and individuals innovative grief programming. Heartlinks serves individuals of all ages before and after a loss due to death. Diana and the Heartlinks team, provide individual and family counseling, grief support groups, as well as portable grief outreach programs and grief education. Diana’s mission is to create a meaningful community of support for grieving people filled with learning, activity, fun and connection. Diana is an experienced presenter who has presented on a variety of topics including children’s grief, traumatic loss and coping, stigmatized loss and the impact on children and families, and the various impacts of addiction-related loss, among others.

 

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Supported by the philanthropic investment
of the New York Life Foundation.

Introduction to Grief Support Series | Homicide Loss 101

Homicide loss brings up complex emotions, challenges, and experiences that often complicate the grief process for individuals, children, and families. Persons experiencing homicide loss must navigate the legal system, potentially stigmatizing situations, and cultural factors in addition to the factors that come with a grief event. Through this presentation, we will discuss unique challenges, the impacts of the trial process, the impacts of witnessing homicide, and language to discuss homicide loss with children.

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Target Audience: Students, interns, individuals entering the field of childhood bereavement, new staff members, new counselors, group facilitators, volunteers, anyone who wants to invest in their practice.
Instructional Level: Novice – This best describes a topic or issue that the prospective audience is encountering for the first time in a meaningful way.
Format: Live Interactive Webinar

 

Objectives:

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

  • Identify 3 unique challenges individuals, families, and children experience related to homicide loss.
  • Recognize best practice language to use when discussing homicide loss with children at different developmental levels.
  • Recognize the impacts of the trial process on children and families grieving homicide loss.
  • Identify the impacts of witnessing a homicide.

 

Speaker Bio:

Becca Olsson, MSW, received her Master’s Degree at the University of Oklahoma in Social Work in 2023. She has worked in the social services field since 2019 with experience in mental health services, youth homelessness services, sexual abuse and trauma therapy services, and grief. As the Center-Based Program Coordinator at Calm Waters, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Becca manages the grief and divorce support group programs onsite at Calm Waters. In providing services, she aims to help individuals and families feel less alone in their grief, pain, and loss. She is passionate about social justice and acknowledging and incorporating individuals’ and families’ unique identities and experiences into services.

Kaitlyn Roedl, LPC Candidate, received her Master’s degree at Southern Nazarene University in Counseling Psychology in 2021. She is currently a Licensed Professional Counselor Candidate (LPC-C). Kaitlyn is a therapist at Calm Waters in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and has over 2 years clinical experience and has worked in clinical and non-profit settings. Kaitlyn has experience working with children, teens, adults, and families. Kaitlyn is passionate about creating a safe environment for children and families so individuals don’t have to feel so alone in their grief. Through creating a safe environment, she hopes to increase access to grief support services and empower her community through education.