Exploring the Role of Social Media in Child and Adolescent Grief

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Social media is an integral part of almost everyone’s life today, especially children and adolescents. This form of connection can digitally put them in contact with others who may share their thoughts and feelings when physical contact is not wanted or available. These connections can provide much-needed support for a child or adolescent who is grieving while allowing them the opportunity to maintain their privacy and anonymity if so desired. While the opportunity for connection can be helpful, social media can also present challenges to children and adolescents who are grieving. The same anonymity that may allow for freer expression of thoughts and feelings may be used by others to manipulate, bully, or even extort children and adolescents. This webinar will share ways that social media can be used to support children and adolescents who are grieving, some potential challenges in its use, and ways social media can be used in the memorialization process.

Target Audience: Social Workers, Counselors
Content Level: Beginner to Intermediate

Objectives:

At the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:
1. Identify two benefits of the use of social media by children and adolescents who are grieving.
2. Identify two potential challenges of the use of social media by children and adolescents who are grieving.
3. Identify two ways children and adolescents can use social media in the memorialization process.

About the Presenter:

Adam W. Carter, Ph.D., joined the NACG in 2021 as National Clinical Director. He 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 has an ongoing program of research and scholarship that 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. In 2014, Adam was one of two inaugural Scholars-in-Residence with the American Counseling Association and helped develop strategies for empowering clinicians to conduct single-subject design research in community settings. In the fall of 2020, Adam was acknowledged for his work in the field of grief counseling and death education by earning the designation of Fellow in Thanatology: Death, Dying, and Bereavement