The concurrent session details for ADEC's 2021 Conference are included below.

Descriptions & panelists will be updated as more information is made available.

View each day's sessions:

• Thursday, April 8
• Friday, April 9
• Saturday, April 10

Thursday, April 8

Opening Session [11:30am - 1:00pm ET]

Global Perspectives on Loss, Grief & Bereavement in the Year of the Pandemic and Beyond
At a time when the world is awash in death and non-death losses ushered in by the pandemic, humanity is confronting its collective vulnerability as never before.  Drawing on their extensive expertise in the grief of children and adults, in the end-of-life and in bereavement, in diverse communities in the US and abroad, and in resilient and complicated adaptation to loss, the panelists share brief statements regarding the problems and prospects faced by our field as we seek new footing in a changed world.  Limiting themselves to 5-7 minutes of remarks, each panelist will attempt to strike sparks to kindle a conversation about issues of universal relevance, opening a rich dialogue with the audience in this session and in the many others in the conference to follow.
Panelists: Drs. Robert Neimeyer, Tashel Bordere, Stephen Connor, Ken Doka, Donna Schuurman, Katherine Shear

Concurrent Session I [1:30 - 2:30pm ET]

Introduction to Grief Counseling
This practice report will explore issues that are unique to grief counseling, including identifying specific interventions and strategies that may assist grief counselors in their support of bereaved individuals. Emphasis will be placed upon how to facilitate the healthy unfolding of grief as an adaptive process and the responsibilities of counselors to ensure they are practicing in ways that are competent and ethical. Current issues and trends will also be discussed, such as the intersection of grief and trauma, identification of when grief may require further intervention, and use of technology in supporting individuals who are grieving.
Presented by: Darcy Harris, PhD, FT

Thanatologists Dealing with Difference: Culture Competence
What makes a thanatologist culturally competent?  We will discuss challenges in interactions that cross racial, cultural, and other socially relevant differences as related to death and non-death grief/loss. We will address issues that interfere with therapeutic alliance, including “difference anxiety,” a stress reaction that arises before and during cross-cultural encounters.  We will discuss emerging research on cultural humility, and distinguish cultural sensitivity from hyper-vigilance and hypersensitivity, presenting a nuanced understanding of other-mindedness. This approach calls thanatologists to personal growth, including increased self-awareness, ability to manage personal boundaries, and competency to assist others with grief and loss, even across social boundaries.
Presented by: Rebecca Morse, PhD; Lory Easton, JD; Maura McFadden, MPsy

Grief Professionals: Managing Your Worry, Stress & Anxiety While Working in a Pandemic
Living through 2020 was an experience no one wants to repeat. As grief professionals, we have been in the unique position of being an important resource to anyone and everyone coping with the global pandemic. Yet at the same time, we realize we too are having our own reactions and challenges to all that has changed. Just as healthcare workers have donned PPE to protect themselves from physically contracting Covid-19, grief professionals have found ways to draw from their “Psychological PPE” to remain resilient and ensure their own emotional well-being. Join us to hear more about the challenges being faced and strategies to cope with these unique stressors. ADEC grief professionals representing hospice/end of life care, chaplaincy, private practice and academia will share their perspectives.
Panelists: Patti Anewalt; Rick Forest; Fay Green; Carla Sofka

Concurrent Session II [5:00 - 6:00pm ET]

EMPOWER: An Intervention for Grieving Surrogate Decision-Makers of Intensive Care Unit Patients
Intensive care unit (ICU) patients nearing death are often unable to communicate their end-of-life medical care wishes, leaving a surrogate decision-maker in the position of making life-and-death decisions on their behalf while in the throes of grief and under potentially traumatic circumstances. We developed a brief, manualized, flexibly-administered, cognitive-behavioral, acceptance-based intervention called EMPOWER (Enhancing & Mobilizing the Potential for Wellness & Emotional Resilience) to support surrogate decision-makers in the ICU. We will describe how EMPOWER was refined using stakeholder feedback and preliminary results from investigations of its effects on peritraumatic and posttraumatic stress, anticipatory and prolonged grief, and regret.
Presented by: Wendy Lichtenthal, PhD, FT

The TAPS three-phase postvention model: A roadmap towards posttraumatic growth
The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) has provided peer-based, emotional grief support to  loved ones grieving the death of a U.S. service member since 1994, including 13,000 survivors of military suicide loss. The TAPS Suicide Prevention & Postvention Department offers comprehensive programs/ services directly impacting efforts in military suicide prevention, intervention and postvention. By combining peer-based grief support with trauma informed best practice, clinical knowledge, and subject matter expertise, TAPS has developed programming and a postvention model of care that helps military suicide loss survivors survive, heal and even thrive after the traumatic suicide loss of their loved one.
Presented by: Kim Burditt; Carla Stumpf Patton, EdD, LMHC, NCC, FT, CCTP

Black Grief through the Eyes of the Black Panther
The Black Panther film (Fiege & Coogler, 2018), masterfully captures the essence and nuances of the lived experiences, loss, and bereavement among Black communities while also highlighting the heterogeneity that exists in populations of African ancestry. This presentation assumes an intersectional lens in its analysis of the ways in which themes in the Black Panther film mirror patterns of traumatic violent loss, non-death loss, and cumulative loss in Black communities. The presentation centers the bereavement experiences of two young adult male, blood-related cousins, of African ancestry and issues that arise as they grieve the violent deaths of their fathers in distinct familial, social, economic, political, and geographic contexts. In particular, we will explore issues unique to homicide grief in racialized-gendered-class-based contexts, cultural strengths and conflicts that may arise in the intergenerational transmission of values, including the “duty to carry on,” family betrayal (secrecy), and the centrality of ancestrial connections for bereaved Black youth and families. Implications for research, clinical practice, and programming with Black youth and families will be provided.
Presented by: Tashel Bordere, PhD

Friday, April 9

Concurrent Session III [12:00 - 1:00pm ET]

Empirically-Supported Treatments in a Case of Homicide Grief
Two prominent empirically-supported treatment models for complicated grief—Complicated Grief Treatment (Shear, 2015) and Meaning-Centered Grief Therapy (Lichtenthal, 2017)—offer many features which can be usefully leveraged by clinicians in everyday clinical practice. The challenge of how to customize intervention with a specific patient is addressed through a case study of a homicide-bereaved mother where elements from both of these treatment protocols were incorporated to advance the therapeutic exchange toward mutually-agreed treatment goals. Case material illustrate therapeutic maneuvers and provide a basis for discussion of treatment rationale and moment-to-moment clinical decision-making.
Presented by: Louis Gamino, PhD, ABPP, FT

It Wasn't Your Fault: Helping Grieving Children & Adolescents Understand Feelings of Guilt
People of any age can feel guilty after someone they care about dies.  As part of their developmental “egocentrism”, young children often lack logical reasoning, and believe that everything has to do with them.  Adolescents can experience “renewed egocentrism” as they focus on developing their identity.  This may lead them to ruminate about topics like death and loss.  Grieving children and adolescents can benefit from reading and viewing fictional characters who are going through situations like their own. This presentation will explore activities, using a variety of books and movies that focus on the topic of “guilt and grief".
Presented by: Kathryn Markell, PhD; Marc Markell, PhD

Teaching That Matters: Pedagogy in a Pandemic
In the past year, education as we once knew it has been completely upended by the physical distancing measures undertaken in response to the pandemic. Most educators had to quickly pivot to online platforms for their course delivery and were forced to make a decision about whether to deliver content synchronously or asynchronously.  Many have no face to face contact with their students while others are teaching some students in the classroom and remotely at the same time.  In addition to coping with the loss of the educational experience as anticipated by students and instructors alike, the losses have mounted, including loss of life as well as the loss of living our lives as we once knew them. Ironically, the need for grief literacy has never been more pronounced—or challenging. In this symposium, leaders in death education will share their experiences and thoughts, reflecting upon their learnings from this past year, as well as new strategies in teaching   for delivering content and engaging students in the learning process that will most likely remain in place in the future.
Presented by: Illene Culpit, PhD; Darcy Harris, PhD; Sherry Smith, Gdip. SCP, PhD, FT; Carla Sofka, PhD

Concurrent Session IV [1:30 - 2:30pm ET]

Loving Heart Connections - Helping Clients Make Connections with their Loved Ones
Research shows those who experience a Loving Heart Connection with their deceased loved ones have a less severe grief experience, less traumatic flight, fight and/or freeze and more traumatic growth than those who do not. Loving Heart Connections is a new modality designed to activate a spiritual connection with their deceased loved one. Components of this modality use the well-researched elements of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and Induced After Death Communication. Video showing clients experiencing a Loving Heart Connection will be presented. Information regarding the methodology, assessments and quantitative data will be included.
Presented by: Jane Bissler, PhD, LPCC, FT

Our Work, Ourselves - Reflecting on Our Own Losses as Thanatologists
As thanatologists, we study, write, teach, and help with the dying and bereavement of other people. But what about our own losses? How have our life experiences with death, dying, and bereavement influenced our work? Have they led us into the field? Have they changed how we do the work? Have they changed how we view our own mortality? These important but rarely discussed issues (even within ADEC) will be the focus of this presentation. Three thanatologists will describe the role of personal loses in shaping their work in thanatology. Audience questions, comments, and sharing will be welcome.
Presented by: John Jordan, PhD; Michelle Ramirez, MS, FT; Sharon Strouse, MA, ATR-BC, LCPAT

Dying, Funerals, Memorial Services, and Bereavement: COVID Challenges & Best Practices
Death is a part of life and the pandemic caused the work of healthcare professionals and funeral professionals, to be different and more difficult.  These professionals experienced grief overload, being exposed to more loss than normal in a short amount of time. During this panel discussion we will learn from Dr. Sherry Schachter, Calvary Hospital, New York City how dying during the pandemic impacted both COVID-19 deaths and non-COVID-19 deaths.  Funeral director, Rick Bissler, will explore the challenges for funeral service providers and address how the impact of dying and death during the pandemic changed the experience of planning funerals and memorial services.  Becky Lomaka, Director of Grief Support and Education for O’Connor Mortuary, Laguna Hills, California will identify resources for supporting funeral professionals.  Panelists will identify therapeutic interventions provided by creative, innovative bereavement programs for bereaved families and emotional support for staff and front-line workers.  The challenges of fatiguing physical labor, PPE protocols, work conditions placed on a workers’ health, and potentially the health of family members will be described. Professionals have learned best practices that will likely change care provided in the future. 
Panelists: Rick Bissler, Becky Lomaka, Sherry Schachter, Fay Green

Saturday, April 10

Concurrent Session V [11:00am - 12:00pm ET]

Doll Making & Traumatic Loss
This presentation introduces doll making as a transformative art therapy technique, effective in the treatment of traumatic loss. Anchored in grief and bereavement theory we explore doll making through the lens of: The Constructivist Theory of Meaning Making, a vehicle for narrative and identity reconstruction, sense making, benefit finding and Attachment-Informed Grief Therapy, where creative process and concrete, transitional object support exploration of the continuing bond.  Case studies demonstrate the efficacy of this art therapy modality as the bereaved engage a non-verbal process that “targets sensory-emotive-cognitive processing areas of the brain that are needed for psychological transformation.”
Presented by: Sharon Strouse, MA, ATR-BC, LCPAT; Sarah Vollmann, MPS, ATR-BC, LICSW

The Challenges of Caregiving During a Pandemic
The COVID-19 global pandemic has introduced unprecedented challenges to caregiving of all kinds—from parenting young children and teens while homebound, to caring for aging parents isolated in nursing homes. These challenges are compounded when caring for those who are grieving a death loss in addition to the collective strain, fear and losses brought on by the virus and its aftermath. This international panel will share multiple perspectives on the toll of the pandemic, including the importance of cultivating secure bases during crisis, and offer concrete information and skills for supporting adaptive caregiving that will promote post-pandemic growth and healing.
Panelists: Brook Griese, PhD; Donna Schuurmann, PhD; Jakob va Wielink, MA; Jessica Maitland Mayo, MA

Worldwide Pandemic: Cumulative Losses & Grief Overload (Non-Death Losses)
The pandemic has created a worldwide unprecedented level of loss since early 2020.  Assumptive worlds have been shattered by non-death losses, deaths related to COVID-19 and those unrelated to COVID-19. The uncertainties and anxieties of the pandemic have caused greater distress for professionals and people living with mental health conditions; of which can exacerbate their existing conditions, with the potential to trigger new ones. As of March 14, 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported there have been 119,030,459 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 2,640,349 deaths. Approximately nine individuals are impacted by each COVID-19 death. March 10, 2021, 300,002, 228 doses of the vaccine had been administered. Non-death losses such as social distancing, isolation, “lock-downs”, job loss, working from home, and public schools moving to an online format have added to the cumulative losses and have created grief over-load worldwide on vulnerable populations. Expert panelists, Drs. Andy Ho, Joy Berger, Jennifer Matthews, and Amy Chow will lead the discussion on the challenges the worldwide pandemic created and ways to foster resilience.
Panelists: Andy Ho., Joy Berger, Jennifer Matthews, Amy Chow

Concurrent Session VI [2:00 - 3:00pm ET]

"I'm Not Ready": Preparing Families for Physician-Assisted Death
As more states legalize physician-assisted death (PAD), the need for counselors to assist families of individuals considering this life-changing decision is on the rise. Grief is often considered a post-death experience, but anticipating the loss of a loved one elicits unique and complex experiences of grief. Counselors can be a strong support for individuals and families experiencing anticipatory grief as their loved ones pursue PAD. This session will discuss anticipatory grief related to PAD and counselors’ roles in providing competent and ethical care for impacted family members. Presenters will provide culturally-informed intervention strategies to support these clients across the lifespan.
Presented by: Jillian Blueford, PhD, LPC, NCC, CT; Nancy Thacker, PhD, NCC

The Therapeutic Alliance in Grief Therapy: A Conversation
This presentation will focus on the role of the alliance in successful grief therapy. The first presenter will review some of the findings from psychotherapy outcome research on the therapist-client relationship. The second presenter will then describe the therapeutic orientation of two presenters, based on customizing the alliance to the attachment style of the client (Kosminsky & Jordan, 2016). The remainder of the time will be spent in discussion with the audience about the questions of what constitutes a productive alliance in grief therapy, and how can we customize the therapy to the coping style and goals of different clients.
Presented by: John Jordan, PhD; Phyllis Kosminsky, PhD

Superhero Grief: A Conversation on the Transformative Power of Loss
This presentation will focus on the use of modern-day superhero narratives to explore Transformations in the Field of Grief and Bereavement Theory, Funeral Rites, Rituals, and Customs, Restorative Retelling as well as Supporting Grieving Fathers and Survivors of Family Homicide.  This panel will share teaching moments highlighted throughout superhero visual arts relatable to these topics.  Panelists will share multiple perspectives, increase topic-related knowledge, provide case presentations, and discuss recommendations to foster adaptation to loss, growth, and transformation in supporting the bereaved, particularly those affected by the intersection of sudden and/or violent traumatic death.
Presented by: Jill Harrington, DSW, LCSW; Sharon Strouse, MA, ATR-BC, LCPAT; Bill Hoy, DMin, FT; Selin Santos; Christiane Manzella