Navigating Grief in Your Life, Session 3

Session 3: Bracing for Loss: Navigating Anticipatory Grief with Understanding & Resilience

Grief is often associated with loss that has already happened, but what about the grief we feel when we know a loss is coming? Anticipatory grief occurs when we foresee the passing of a loved one, a pet’s declining health, the end of a marriage, or the loss of a career. This session will explore the emotions and psychological impact of anticipatory grief, offering strategies for coping, preparing, and finding meaning in the process.

Through personal storytelling, historical letters, and audience engagement, this presentation will provide insight into how we can emotionally and practically navigate the grief that arrives before the loss itself.

About the author:

Kevin O’Connor, creator of The Grief Navigator, provides compassionate guidance through grief, drawing on his background in the funeral industry and family history preservation. Author of the bestseller Two Floors Above Grief, Kevin is a retired educator and active community theater actor, offering presentations on grief, education, and preserving family archives.

About the book: by Kevin O'Connor

Imagine growing up in a house where joy and grief coexist under the same roof—a stately Victorian mansion where the upstairs hummed with the energy of two lively families, and the basement displayed caskets next to the closed door of an embalming room. Kevin O’Connor invites you into his extraordinary childhood, where the sounds of laughter mixed with the business of a funeral home.

Through a captivating collection of family letters spanning the 1920s to the ‘80s, O’Connor masterfully weaves a story that balances life's most poignant moments—births, celebrations, and yes, death—into a tapestry of resilience, love, and joy.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher Broward County Main Library