Evaluation & Dissemination of a Bereavement Support Intervention for LGBTQIA+ Youth

Evaluation & Dissemination of a Bereavement Support Intervention for LGBTQIA+ Youth

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender non-conforming youth, are impacted by high rates of traumatic loss, as well as by the experience of suffocated and disenfranchised grief, much of it caused by the stigma, shaming and violence directed at LGBT people. These youth can also have unique bereavement concerns, distinct from their heterosexual and cisgender peers, given the ways that the developmental trajectory of LGBT adolescents can intersect with the processes of mourning and grief.

The Hetrick-Martin Institute (HMI) is one of the nation’s oldest and largest LGBT youth-serving organizations, providing primarily Black and Latino youth with mental health services and an array of youth development programs. In response to the numbers of bereaved youth seeking counseling services at HMI, and the regularity with which our community mourns the loss of young people, many of whom die by violence and suicide, the Institute has developed a curriculum-driven group intervention to support bereaved youth, focused on resilience, coping with loss, and finding connections with LGBT ancestors. The curriculum teaches youth about LGBT history and collective responses to loss and trauma, so that youth can learn how to transform pain through creative expression, social action, and community celebrations. The intervention, titled “Survivance and Queer Youth,” is grounded in Shawn Ginwright’s concept of “Healing-Centered Engagement” which is a strength-based approach, and views those exposed to trauma as active agents in the creation of their own healing. Healing-Centered Engagement advances a collective view of healing, and re-centers culture, healthy identity, and a sense of belonging as central features in well-being.

Staff from HMI will present on the implementation and dissemination of this community-based bereavement support program, and will share results from our program evaluation which includes quantitative data from seven (7) youth centers located across the country, and qualitative data about the Facilitator Training.

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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, 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

 

Objectives:

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

  • Recognize and articulate the types of non-death losses experienced by LGBT youth, and the reasons for higher rates of bereavement and early death among this population.
  • Identify and understand the psychosocial phenomenon of disenfranchised grief and suffocated grief among LGBTQ youth communities.
  • Articulate best practices for counseling and supporting bereaved LGBTQ youth and adolescents using approaches drawn from Healing-Centered Engagement

 

Speaker Bio:

Zola Bruce is a dynamic social worker, educator, writer, and interdisciplinary artist whose work centers on experiential learning, leadership development, creative program design, healing, and community-based education. Originally from Dallas, Texas, Zola relocated to New York to attend Sarah Lawrence College, where they studied psychology and sculpture. Their global perspective was further shaped by a semester abroad in Kingston, Jamaica, with The School for International Training, focusing on Gender and Development.

Zola earned their Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University in 2001 and spent over a decade advancing youth development initiatives across New York City. Their work with organizations such as the Center for Family Life, McBurney YMCA, the LGBTQ Center, and The Center for Anti-Violence Education emphasized therapeutic programming for youth and families, with a strong commitment to social justice and healing.

Internationally, Zola founded Unified for Global Healing, a nonprofit dedicated to grassroots community health initiatives in Haiti, Ghana, and India. Through the use of art as a universal language, they fostered cross-cultural dialogue and connection beyond barriers of language, class, and culture. They also led youth programming in Kyoto, Japan, as part of World Learning’s Arts & Culture initiative.

Blending their passions for art, activism, and social work, Zola served as Associate Director of Communications & Impact at The Center for Anti-Violence Education and continues to consult and speak at activist events. Currently, they serve as Manager of Bereavement and Mental Health Services at the Hetrick-Martin Institute and teach as an Adjunct Professor at Hunter College.

Zola resides in Brooklyn, where they remain deeply engaged in creative and community-centered work.

Creative Pathways Through Grief and Loss: Culturally Affirming Approaches with Black Children and Families

This workshop explores the use of creative therapies—art, music, storytelling, and movement—in therapeutic work with Black clients navigating grief and loss. Grounded in cultural humility and historical awareness, the session highlights how culturally affirming practices foster resilience, connection, and healing. Participants will leave with practical strategies and interactive tools to integrate creative, culturally responsive approaches into their work with children, youth, and families who are grieving.

 

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: The event is for mental health professionals, educators, grief counselors, social workers, bereavement support staff, community members, funeral professionals, and volunteers – anyone who works with or supports children and families who are bereaved.
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:

  • Explore creative therapies (art, music, storytelling, movement) in grief work
  • Understand unique grief responses in Black communities
  • Learn culturally affirming strategies for therapeutic work
  • Foster resilience and connection through practice

 

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Brianne (Brie) L. Overton, FT, LPC-S, NCC, is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Illinois and Missouri. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Education in Counseling and Master of Education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and her MA in Thanatology from Hood College. She is the author of My Grief Comfort Book – Creative Activities to Help Kids Cope with Loss and Keep Memories Alive. Her current research explores the grief gap and its impact on BIPOC, young adults navigating terminal illness and changes to their life trajectory, as well as supporting bereaved family members after loss. Dr. Overton has extensive experience working in nonprofit settings, supporting grieving youth and families who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling, or primary caregiver by providing resources, advocacy, and education. She previously served as Chief Clinical Officer for Experience Camps, a national nonprofit that offers no-fee, clinically informed programs for children who have experienced death-related losses. In addition to educating and supervising master’s level clinicians, she has spent 18 years in thanatology, offering grief counseling, death education, suicide prevention and intervention, and consultation.

 

New York Life Foundation logo

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

Centering Intersectionality Within the Field of Childhood Bereavement

It is commonly believed that grief is different for everyone and that we should not compare one child’s grief to another’s. Why can grief differ so much from one child to another, even within the same family system? When a child experiences a death loss, adults in their system may attribute a child’s thoughts and behaviors to being a “grief response” and center the child’s grief as their primary motivating factor. This unintentional oversimplification of what the child may be experiencing can make grief the only lens by which adults see children who are grieving. It can potentially harm a child’s health and well-being if supportive adults only see a child as a “single story.” This presentation will use the concept of intersectionality introduced by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw to help adults who support children see them as the complex, socially constructed people they are.

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:

  • Explain Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality.
  • Identify areas of their practice where intersectionality can be incorporated into their work with children who are grieving.
  • Create an intake process that uses principles of intersectionality to help portray a more complete picture of a grieving child.

 

Speaker Bios:

Adam W. Carter, Ph.D., is a professional counselor and counselor educator who received his doctoral degree in Counselor Education and Supervision, with an emphasis in multicultural counseling, from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Adam has taught courses in CACREP-accredited master’s level clinical mental health programs and doctoral-level courses in counselor education and supervision and served as the Trauma-Informed Counseling Graduate Certificate coordinator at Northern Illinois University. During his time at Northern Illinois University, he founded the Center for Grief and Loss at the University’s Community Counseling and Training Center, where he provided clinical supervision and education to counselors in training. Adam’s ongoing research and scholarship program focuses on early childhood grief responses and preparing counselors-in-training to work with grieving children. Adam’s scholarly work also includes numerous peer-reviewed presentations focusing on topics such as trauma-informed counseling, play therapy, and developing research skills in counseling practitioners. His clinical experience is broad, having worked as a counselor and supervisor in community mental health clinics, in-home intensive settings, community advocacy agencies, and private practice.

 

New York Life Foundation logo

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

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Black Youth and Family Bereavement: A Strengths Perspective

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*This playback is available to active NACG Members Only.