CBEM Key Topic Report 2025: Examining Childhood Bereavement at the County Level

CBEM Key Topic Report 2025: Examining Childhood Bereavement at the County Level

The Childhood Bereavement Estimation Model (CBEM) developed by Judi’s House/JAG Institute in partnership with the New York Life Foundation approximates rates of U.S. children and youth who will experience the death of a parent or sibling. Each year, Judi’s House releases CBEM Standard and Key Topic reports exploring childhood bereavement across the nation, in each state, and in relation to the intersection of childhood bereavement with associated factors such as race/ethnicity, cause of death, or household income. This webinar’s focus in on the 2025 CBEM Key Topic Report examining childhood bereavement in the United States at the county level.

Geography is associated with social and health outcomes in the U.S., including patterns of bereavement. Annual CBEM estimates produced at the state level show that childhood bereavement varies substantially across states. CBEM county level findings demonstrate considerable variation within states, as within state county differences can be vast. Webinar presenters will discuss the rational for producing county level bereavement estimates, describe the data and methods used to generate the results, and summarize findings. Possible reasons for disparities in bereavement estimates across counties, and their implications for families, community organizations, advocates, and policymakers will be discussed.

 

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Target Audience: Counselors, Social workers, Bereavement support professionals, school 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

 

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

  • Calculate the magnitude of difference in CBEM results between the counties with the lowest and highest childhood bereavement in U.S. states.
  • Summarize the common characteristics of high- and low-bereavement counties in the U.S. by identifying demographic statistics that can help contextualize the variations.
  • Propose practical strategies for understanding and addressing childhood bereavement in their communities and consider approaches to address communities with the highest needs.

 

Speaker Bio:

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 as the vice president of the U.S.-based National Alliance for Children’s Grief board of directors and is an advisor to Speaking Grief, a public media initiative seeking to improve 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 she 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 | Beyond Risk Factors and Warning Signs: An Introduction to Suicide

Suicidology has been a distinct discipline for over half a century, yet suicide is still misunderstood as a symptom of psychiatric illness – treat the illness, suicidality will go away. This has never worked and suicide rates, particularly among Black youth in America, continue to climb (Jackson-Lowman et al., 2023). This is partly because of European-based assumptions that suicide is a singular, individual, autonomous experience without connection to socio-cultural contexts or structural-historical forces (Button & Marsh, 2020). Instead, suicide is a “wicked problem” (Bryan, 2021): highly complex and not easily addressed with solution-focused, linear thinking. Grief after suicide has been underestimated in terms of the reach and impact on the bereaved.

Research has led to the construction of the Continuum Model of the Effects of Suicide Exposure (National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, 2015), illustrating that 115 people are exposed each time a suicide occurs, and 63 of these will have high or very high closeness with the deceased. Those bereaved after suicide are often challenged by the “perceived intentionality” of the death and related “perceived responsibility” for the death (Jordan, 2020). Research shows that lifetime suicide exposure is related to increased suicidal ideation, PTS, and anxiety (Andriessen et al., 2020). This presentation will go beyond risk factors and warning signs that lead to inaccurate presumptions about suicide. We will review theories of and best practices for addressing suicidal behavior, framing suicidality as not just an individual act but something that has social determinants (Millner et al., 2020; Jackson-Lowman et al., 2023). We will address research about and best practices for suicide intervention, postvention, and supporting grievers after suicide. The presentation will offer special consideration of how children and teens are impacted, what they worry about after a suicide death, and ways to support them (Andriessen et al., 2020).

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 and discuss theories of suicide.
  • Identify and discuss research on and best practices for suicide intervention and addressing suicidal behavior.
  • Identify and discuss research on and best practices for postvention and grief support after suicide.

 

Speaker Bios:

Janet McCord, PhD, FT, Professor of Thanatology and Thanatology Program Director at Edgewood College, has been a thanatologist and suicidologist for nearly 30 years. She is a death educator who teaches a broad array of topics in thanatology and suicidology and has educated hundreds of master’s level students around the globe in graduate thanatology programs. She is a member of the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement (IWG) since 2016 and embraces the IWG’s vision as her own: a world where dying, death, and bereavement are an open part of all cultures. Her research interests include the investigation of global and cultural perspectives of trauma, dying, death, grief, suicide, and loss, and the intersection of thanatology with literature and the arts. She is in the process of conducting research on death and funeral rituals among the Acholi and BaGanda peoples of Uganda, and plans to expand this research to other low-income countries. She currently serves as a Thanatology Section Editor for the Routledge Online Resources: Death, Dying, and Bereavement, and has published peer-reviewed articles, book reviews, book chapters, and contributed to a range of projects as an author or reviewer.

Rebecca S. Morse, PhD, is a behavioral and developmental psychologist and thanatologist. She has taught at several Universities and Colleges on a broad range of topics in psychology, criminology, traumatology, grief after suicide, and thanatology. She is a Past President of the Association for Death Education and Counseling and is the co-chair for the American Psychological Association End of Life Special Interest Group. She is also a collaborator on a project with the Hospice Foundation of America to provide grief education for individuals with Autism, funded by the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation. She is a Thanatology Subject Editor for Taylor & Francis, and has published peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and contributed to numerous textbooks as both an author, and a reviewer.

Data & Evaluation Training Series #1: Data Basics

Given limited resources and stretched capacity, data collection procedures and program evaluation strategies at the individual program level often fall short in terms of identifying gaps in service, areas for growth, and program impact. Today, philanthropic giving demands quantifiable return on investment in exchange for donations and grants. Combining nearly 20 years of experience in designing bereavement-focused evaluation protocols with the power of the CBEM, with philanthropic support provided by the New York Life Foundation and in collaboration with the National Alliance for Children’s Grief (NACG), Judi’s House/JAG Institute offers a series of free trainings to share best practices in data collection and program evaluation.

This first workshop on Data Basics will outline where to start with essential data capture for process evaluation and highlight how organizations can capitalize on what they may already be collecting as well as what community data are available. Presenters will discuss the role of data in the childhood bereavement field, review data fundamentals (e.g., types and sources of data) using accessible examples, and provide tips on how to start strong with data gathering to help tell your story.


Continuing Education (CE) credits are not available for webinar playbacks.
Target Audience:Counselors, Social workers, Bereavement support professionals
Instructional Level: Basic
Format: Live Interactive Webinar

Objectives:

By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:

  1. Identify key data sources for evaluation
  2. Discuss types of data and when to utilize them
  3. Explain how to establish practical strategies for gathering data

 

Speaker Bio:

Maria Bartini, PhD, is the Evaluation Manager at Judi’s House/JAG Institute. With a doctoral degree in Life-Span Developmental Psychology from the University of Georgia, she has over 20 years’ experience teaching research methods, statistics, and child development at the college level. In her academic career, she also conducted evaluation research in schools, colleges, and youth sports organizations with the overarching goal of improving the lives of children and adolescents. In addition to heading the organization’s Childhood Bereavement Changemaker Initiative, Maria contributes to the evaluation and research activities at Judi’s House. Her work focuses on building evaluation/data utilization capacity in the field of childhood bereavement and evaluating the impact of Judi’s House services. She can be reached at mariab@judishouse.org.

Maddy Saunders, MS, works as a Research Associate at Judi’s House/JAG Institute. In her role, she helps lead the Childhood Bereavement Changemaker expansion, collaborating with organizations across the country to support implementation of data-informed strategies in decision-making, program implementation, and evaluation. Maddy holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Psychology with concentrations in Evaluation Research and Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. She can be reached at maddyv@judishouse.org.

 

New York Life Foundation logo

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

Supporting Children of All Abilities Who are Grieving: A Conversation with Jennifer Wiles

Grief and Bereavement for LGBTQ Youth

*This playback is available to active NACG Members Only.

Recent Developments in the Childhood Bereavement Field: Implications for Supporting Bereaved Youth

*This playback is available to active NACG Members Only.