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Understanding Grief and Loss Workshop: Confronting the Elephant in the Room
January 25, 2017 @ 8:30 am - 3:00 pm
1 out of 7 children will lose a parent or sibling before the age of 20. Current projections indicate that there will be 280,000 grieving children under the age of 18 in New Jersey this year alone.
Good Grief invites you to register for our workshops from the “Understanding Grief & Loss” series. These workshops are designed specifically for professionals working in school settings: teachers, guidance counselors, social workers, school nurses, and administrators. Good Grief is one of the largest, nationally recognized children’s bereavement centers and serves families from more than 180 communities throughout New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.
Research identifies four factors that drastically inhibit a child’s capacity to experience post-traumatic growth: peer, school, family system dysfunction, and how the community at-large responds. Because of this, school personnel are vital members of a grieving student’s environmental system, greatly impacting how a student responds after loss. These workshops are designed to provide school personnel with important insights and valuable tools to support grieving students in schools.
Register by Credit Card or Purchase Order
Course Information:
Death is discomforting; it knocks us off balance and challenges our resources. Caring school personnel want to support those who have lost someone to death, yet often feel uncertain about how to interact with children, teens, their families and even colleagues who are grieving in the school setting. We wonder: “What should I say? What should I do?” A frequent response when we are not sure what to say or do is to avoid the “elephant in the room” altogether.
This workshop is designed to identify and explore the role of grief following a death. How can we confront the “elephant” and reduce the isolation grievers often feel? What are ways to create open and honest conversations about death with children and adults? What is the impact of the cause of death, such as suicide, on those left behind? What are helpful ways to support all those who are grieving?
Course Objectives:
This workshop will provide participants with the opportunity to:
- Identify death as a teachable moment and grief as a learning and growth experience
- Facilitate competent conversations about death among children and adults in schools
- Examine issues related to the type of death, including suicide, and its impact on those left behind
- Identifying ways to support children based on the type of death to self-advocate to assist them in developing skills to speak openly and honestly
- Explain strategies to assist children and adults coping with death
- Identify the elements of grief that serve a useful purpose
- Describe activities to assist children coping with loss
Content Level: the content in this course will be at a beginner level
Instructors: Jesse Bassett, MDiv. and Melissa Stackpole-Parrish, MA, LAC are Good Grief’s Program Directors. Jesse holds a Master of Divinity and Melissa holds her Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Jesse has been involved in the field of childhood bereavement for 3 years, and Melissa has been involved in the field for 7 years. Both Jesse and Melissa have presented on various topics surrounding grief and loss.
Course Outline:
8:30 am – Check in
9 am – 12 pm – Workshop topics: understanding grief and loss; grief’s purpose; factors that influence grief
12 – 1 pm – Lunch break (provided)
1 – 3 pm – Workshop topics: what grieving kids experience in school; fostering empathic responding
Please contact 908-522-1999 x8013 if you need special accommodations or if you have questions or concerns.
Any complaints or grievances may be submitted in writing to the presenters at 38 Elm Street, Morristown, NJ 07960.
Registration: Space is limited to 40, and will be confirmed by email. In order to avoid being closed out, register as soon as possible. Deadline: Friday, January 6, 2017.
Refund & Cancellation Policy: refunds and cancellations will be processed for those who request in advance of 1/25/17, after which refunds will no longer be granted.
“NJ Social Workers: An application has been made for consideration of approval for 5 General credits for this course.”
Others should contact their regulatory board to determine course approval.
Attendees will be handed a certificate of credit immediately following attendance of entire course, as evidenced by signing in and out, and completion of a course evaluation.
For more information or to register, please contact:
info@good-grief.org|908-522-1999 x8013