"Before We Say Goodbye" Anticipatory Grief Continuing Education Workshop

Many mental health practitioners, medical professionals, and clergy feel ill-equipped to meet the needs of grieving children and families, especially those experiencing anticipatory grief. This workshop will help you better understand the complexities of anticipatory grief counseling, including common barriers and practical considerations. The role of sustained hope at end-of-life will be explored, and practical strategies for engaging in sensitive conversations will be explored. Anticipatory grief interventions and meaning-making activities will be provided. Participants will also gain tools to support children and families after death, including preparing children and adults to attend memorial services and return to work or school.

Objectives

• As a result of attending this presentation, participants will be able to:
• Apply knowledge of anticipatory grief to children, adolescents, and families experiencing impending losses.
• Identify commonly experienced anticipatory grief reactions by children, adolescents, and adults.
• Discuss continuing bonds and their role in the grief process.
• Facilitate developmentally appropriate conversations about illness, death, and loss to promote healthy coping.
• Apply a modern model of post-loss grief counseling to the construct of anticipatory grief.
• Appraise various intervention strategies to support children and families experiencing anticipatory grief.

Outline

• Anticipatory and preparatory grief
• Common misconceptions about the grief process
• Modern models of grief counseling and anticipatory grief
• Commonly experienced anticipatory grief reactions
• The role and importance of hope at the end of life
• The importance of legacy-building and meaning-making
• Continuing bonds in grief
• Anticipatory-grief interventions that promote meaning-making and support the establishment of healthy continuing bonds.
• Strategies to prepare grieving children, adolescents, and adults to attend memorial services
• Strategies to support grieving children and adolescents upon return to school

Host or Publisher ChristianWorks for Children