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

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.

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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

 

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.

 

Partnering with Schools to Support Grieving Children

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures and during the pandemic, OUR HOUSE had to pivot several times to meet the urgent need for grief support services in our heavily impacted community. Since 1997 we have provided school-based grief support groups in the second largest district in the nation but found ourselves needing to find new ways to do this first virtually and then when schools reopened Fall 2021 with stringent safety measures for providers coming on campus. In addition, we were tasked with finding ways to support grieving school professionals and equip them to support the students on their campuses within the scope of their roles. In this workshop we will share lessons learned building relationships with school districts, designing evidence-based curricula, supporting grieving school faculty and equipping school mental health clinicians with tools to use in school-based counseling sessions with grieving children. We will also look at the needs of volunteers leaning on staff while readjusting to the demands of providing grief support services in the pandemic and beyond.

To access documents provided by the presenters click HERE and HERE.

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 two strategies to use to support school professionals
  • Identify four goals when designing curricula for use in school-based programs.
  • Identify two ways to build relationships with the schools in your area.

 

Speaker Bios:

Lauren Schneider, LCSW | Clinical Director of Child and Adolescent Programs
Lauren, a nationally recognized expert on Child & Adolescent Grief, has directed the Children’s Programs for OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center for 18 years. In that role, Lauren provides training for mental health clinicians, educators, clergy, health care providers and graduate students throughout the community equipping them to work with grieving clients. Lauren is the author of “Children Grieve Too: A Handbook for Parents of Grieving Children” and contributing author of “You Can’t Do It Alone: A Widow’s Journey through Grief and Life After”. She also created “My Memory Book…for grieving children”. Lauren is an Associate Producer of “One Last Hug…and a few smooches” an Emmy award-winning HBO documentary about children’s Grief. Lauren is the recipient of the 2017 Dr. Michael Durfee Award and the 2014 H.U.G. award. In her free time Lauren enjoys playing with her grandsons, cooking and nature walks. Lauren maintains a private practice in Los Angeles specializing in grief and trauma.
Carolyn Christ, MA | Associate Clinical Coordinator of School & Children’s Programs
Carolyn is an Associate Marriage & Family Therapist working with children, adolescents, and families who seek services through OUR HOUSE. She completed her undergraduate work in Psychology from Portland State University and her master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University Los Angeles, with an emphasis on Psychological Trauma Studies. Carolyn is the coordinator of the OUR HOUSE School Program and coordinates in-house children’s groups for the West LA office. She collaborates with school personnel and district officials to continue to grow the school-based grief support program and deepen school partnerships. Carolyn also maintains a small therapy practice with adult clients in West LA, and prior to joining the OUR HOUSE team, she volunteered with Children’s Healing Art Project (CHAP) in Portland, Oregon, supporting children and families facing medical hardship through creative arts.

 

New York Life Foundation logo

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

After a Suicide: Helping Children, Adolescents, and Teens

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