Bereavement responses exist along a broad continuum. Drawing on contemporary research, this webinar focuses on bereavement risk factors and vulnerabilities that may shape these responses through interacting interpersonal, intrapersonal, sociocultural, and pre- and post-death factors. Building on this foundation, the webinar will then describe specific approaches to identifying individuals who may benefit from additional psychosocial support while avoiding over-medicalization of grief responses. Case examples will illustrate how assessment in real-world clinical and community settings can address coping capacity, functional impairment, and contextual stressors to inform formulation and tailoring of care, rather than only categorical diagnosis.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify common interpersonal, psychological, sociocultural, and death-related factors that may impact bereavement experiences.
2. Describe how coping abilities, social supports, and contextual stressors can influence grief experiences across care settings.
3. Apply bereavement risk screening and assessment strategies to guide individualized and supportive care planning.

About the Presenter:

Dr. Kailey Roberts is an Associate Professor at Yeshiva University’s Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology and a Consultant Faculty at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), focusing on bereavement and palliative psychology. She earned her PhD in clinical psychology from The New School for Social Research and completed her pre-doctoral internship and a postdoctoral fellowship in geropsychology at the Brooklyn VA. She has specialized training in psycho-oncology and bereavement through National Cancer Institute-funded predoctoral and postdoctoral research fellowships at MSK. Currently, Dr. Roberts is leading research on bereavement risk screening, perinatal loss, and bereavement in chosen families, and is a collaborator on projects related to tailoring interventions for bereaved parents, LGBTQIA+-affirming palliative care, geropsychology training, and grief-informed healthcare. Additionally, she has over a decade of expertise in Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy (MCP), serving as an interventionist, a qualitative methods specialist on adaptation studies, and a training facilitator. Cutting across her work is an investment in tailoring and implementing supports based on feedback from those with lived experience. In addition to her research and teaching pursuits, Dr. Roberts maintains a clinical practice working with cancer caregivers and bereaved individuals.