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A Legacy of Virtue-Ultimate Self-Defining Memories Across Adulthood Considering one’s own death motivates human thought, including how one will be memorialized after death. Young, middle-aged, and older adults (N = 205) narrated a self-defining memory in the context of either how they may be memorialized or describing their current self, then rated their memory for virtues. Across age groups, individuals wanted to be recalled as somewhat virtuous. Young adults represented themselves as more virtuous in the Memorialization condition than the Current Me condition; middle-aged and older adults showed no differences. How reflecting on death affects one’s definition of self appears to differ depending on one’s life phase.
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.
Death and Non-Death Loss in the Lives of LBGTQ+ People LGBTQ+ identity interacts with loss in a complex manner affecting multiple realms of functioning. Disenfranchised grief may further isolate the individual. LGBTQ+ people may also experience external barriers and loss of social support. BTQ+ people and individuals with minoritized ethnic identities may experience additional marginalization. This presentation seeks to share common losses experienced by LGBTQ+ people, such as those frequently inherent in coming out, and unique facets of universal losses such as bereavement. It will also provide research based information about resilience-promoting resources practitioners and loved ones can utilize to support and advocate for the LGBTQ+ individuals in their lives.
Doll Making and Trauma 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.
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. Presented by: Rick Bissler, Becky Lomaka, Sherry Schachter, Fay Green
Evocative Experiences in Bereaved Parents Evocative experiences, which have been described as visual or auditory stimuli that evoke a sense of the deceased, can contribute to bereaved individuals’ ability to adaptively reconstruct the meaning of their loss and enhance their sense of connection to the deceased. Though these have been clinically observed in the bereaved, they have been minimally studied and are frequently misunderstood or misjudged. This presentation will characterize evocative experiences described by 21 bereaved parents in qualitative interviews. Their role in facilitating meaning reconstruction and continuing bonds to the deceased as well as clinical implications of these findings will be discussed.
Global Perspectives on Loss, Grief, and 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.
Grief Professionals: Managing Your Worry, Stress and 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. Presented by: Patti Anewalt; Rick Forest; Fay Green; Carla Sofka
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
Impermanence, Thresholds and Grief Care: Bibliotherapeutic Responses Grief and bereavement care often include a re-working of one’s story. Spouses become widowers; life after loss is transformed to life living with loss; and there and then morphs into a new here and now. Stories change as thresholds are crossed. To step over a threshold is a move from one place to another. In this experiential session, challenges to the model of continuing assumptions will be addressed. Participants will be presented with perspectives and tools for crossing thresholds using bibliotherapeutic grief care. Links to classical and creative grief and bereavement care will be included. 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. It Wasn’t Your Fault: Helping Grieving Children and 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
Falling in love again is challenging for widows. The dichotomy between the desire for companionship and love and respect for the previous relationship is a conundrum. Many questions arise when a widowed person steps into the possibilities of new love. Can I love again while still remembering my dead partner? Is it too soon? Will others be judgmental? How do you meet someone in this modern age? Will this person be receptive to my grief? Will I be widowed again? Creative strategies to help those who choose to seek love again after loss will be demonstrated. My PTSD Helped Me Learn and Grow In 2011, Randy Fritz and his family lost their home in an epic wildfire bred from an historic drought. To help others whose lives have been upended by a disaster or some other type of grievous loss, he wrote a book that was a finalist for a prestigious literary prize in Texas. In his ADEC keynote address, Mr. Fritz will read from his book, talk about how the fire changed his life, and explain how his mental illness helped him become a more empathetic, patient, and caring person. He will frame his experiences within the context of mental illness and its treatment and de-stigmatization.
Non-Death Loss During Adolescence There is an endless list of possible non-death losses that occur in the lives of adolescents, some of which include parental divorce, parental incarceration, relocation, friendship loss, romantic break-up, survival of natural disasters, and exposure to media portrayal of mass shootings and other traumatic events. Some non-death losses occur secondary to a death loss. The experiences of non-death loss during adolescence, which may include grief and trauma, can have a lasting developmental impression that carries into adulthood dependent on attachment style, support system, and other mediating factors.
Pathfinders – A Whole Family Approach to Bereavement Care Pathfinders is a 10-session program developed and evaluated in a community-based grief center. The grief-focused and trauma-informed family systems intervention was creatively designed to meet the diverse needs of bereaved children and families, prevent future complications, and promote positive adaptation. The program is based in theory, research and practice-based evidence. Parallel strengths-based curricula for children, adolescents, and adult caregivers can be used in groups of same-age peers or during individual and family sessions. This presentation reviews the structure, process, and content of Pathfinders, including developmentally tailored interventions for varied ages and types of deaths. Role of Intensity of Event, Distress Disclosure and Resilience in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Flood Victims in Anambra State The study investigated the role of intensity of event, distress disclosure and resilience on PTSD among flood victims in Anambra state. 721 adults from three communities in Ogbaru L. G. A. of Anambra state participated in the study. Instruments used were Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ), Distress Disclosure Inventory (DDI), and Resilience Scale (RS-14). Resilience was negatively related to PTSD. Physical intensity of event was positively related to PTSD. Emotional intensity of event was positively related to PTSD. Resilience and Physical intensity of event significantly predicted PTSD. Emotional intensity of event and distress disclosure were not significant predictors of PTSD.
Spiritual Change Among Homicide Survivors of Color While we know that spirituality is integral to meaning making after homicide, we know little about changes in spirituality during homicidal bereavement. This study used grounded theory to examine post-homicide spiritual change in African American and Latino communities. The presenters will share a theory of spiritual change after homicide that is tailored to the sociocultural contexts of these communities. The theory will provide insights into bereavement after homicide in communities of color and a backdrop for discussion of the implications of the emerging theory for counseling with homicide survivors. Attendees should have an understanding of complicated grief and grief counseling. Thanatologist Dealing with Difference: Cultural 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 Thanatologist Meet Medical School Curricula Medical education in much of the 20th century focused nearly exclusively on equipping doctors to cure illness and prevent death. This was an outcome of the numerous medical discoveries and technical advances of the last century. Medical school curricula either did not address or gave minimal consideration to death and dying matters Thus generations of doctors were death-avoidant and unable to shift from curative to end-of-life care when warranted. Increasingly, however, medical curricula now include death education as evidenced by our panelists’ important professional contributions to this shift in medical student education in the last several decades. The Intersection Between Clinician’s Lived Experience, Theory and Practice The courage to walk with clients on their journey of grief and healing is monumental. Join the path with these presenters as they share about their journey of courage through loss, bereavement, post-traumatic growth, entering the mental health field, countertransference, supervision, and personal therapy. Shannon and Heidi will discuss how their grief informs theoretical approaches with clients, integration of research to practice, use of consultation, and self-reflection necessary for this work. Walk away with new intentions for providing quality, culturally informed, ethically minded, and valuable work with clients on their journey of bereavement and healing. Traumatic Grief After Violent Death: Clinical Intervention(s) and Limitations Contemporary research indicates there are differences between the bereavement experiences of individuals grieving non-violent versus violent death losses. In fact, studies suggest that violent death can be particularly challenging for mourners on a variety of levels. Individuals bereaved by homicide, suicide, and fatal accident appear to face distinct challenges physically, psychologically, socially, and spiritually. Many experience shock and horror at the manner of death, relational strain in their social network, an inability to make sense of the death, or a spiritual crisis as a result of the loss. There are a number of factors that may place survivors of violent loss at an increased risk for elevated levels of psychological distress as they struggle in accommodating. The lecture will discuss aspects of poor bereavement outcome in violent death survivors in the form of traumatic grief. The objective of this lecture is to increase understanding on how this understudied and underserved population copes with the loss of a loved one to violent death while evaluating the clinical implications of high levels of psychological distress, and other factors facing survivors. Drawing on the lecturer’s ongoing research activities and extensive clinical experience with traumatic grief, this presentation will discuss theory, case examples and clinical principles illustrating the inherent differences found in unexpected, violent bereavement, and outline a manualized short term intervention (Restorative Retelling) shown to be particularly helpful in treating this population.
“What About Me?” Supporting Children Impacted by the Overdose of a Loved One More than 850,000 people died due to drug overdose between 1990 and 2018 in the U.S. Children and families who experience the overdose death of a loved one often find themselves overwhelmed by shame, anger, regret, and confusion. Stigma that often accompanies deaths due to drug overdose may lead to isolation and a lack of support. The grief that follows the death of a family member from overdose can be larger and more complex than people might imagine. This presentation will provide useful insights and practical suggestions for working with children and families surviving the overdose death of a loved one.
Worldwide Pandemic: Cumulative Losses and 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. |
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