The Institute for Spirituality and Health and Bo’s Place present:
Healing and Collective Grief
Grief is a deeply personal process, but what happens when pain, frustration, and loss are felt by a whole community, or by the whole of humanity? We are still collectively experiencing the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic in so many ways, from trauma and burnout among healthcare providers, to the disrupted education of children, to the mental health consequences of isolation. We have seen an increasing regularity of mass shootings, many in schools. We continue to reckon with a long history of generational racial trauma and inequality. As a species, we face the ever-emerging picture of our impact on the planet and its biodiversity. These events and circumstances have brought anxiety, frustration, and anger, which in turn has bred divisiveness and an erosion of trust in one another and our institutions.
How do we grieve collectively? Does widespread loss simply compound personal loss, or can comfort and common humanity be found in a collective grief process? How can we facilitate such a process? This 2 hour virtual workshop will consider the concept of collective grief: what it means, how the many current forms of grief diverge or intersect, and how collective grief shapes the personal grief journey.
Learning Objectives
Recognize that individual grief experiences and the grieving process can be mediated by a collective grieving process.
Identify the various layers of grieving taking place at this time and how individuals may be experiencing each individually and collectively.
Assess how collective grief may impact my work as a clinician or care provider.
Details
Date: Friday, February 17, 2023
Time: 10:00am-12:00pm CST
Location: Hosted virtually via Zoom
Cost: $30 with CEU / $20 attendance / $10 students
Our Speakers:
Sandra A. López, LCSW-S, ACSW
Diplomate in Clinical Social Work
Sandra A. Lopez is a Clinical Social Worker with over forty years of practice experience in a variety of social work settings including family service, healthcare, academia, and private practice. She is a retired Clinical Professor from the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She currently maintains a clinical and consulting practice with an established expertise in trauma and grief. She has served in leadership in many social work professional organizations, including the National Association of Social Work, and the Latino Social Workers of Greater Houston. Sandra is a staunch advocate of promoting self-care and resiliency in the social work and helping professions.
Dr. Sabrina N’Daye, PhD, MDiv, LCSW-C
Dr. Sabrina N’Diaye is an integrative psychotherapist and founder of the Heart Nest Center for Peace and Healing in Baltimore, Maryland, and she has over 30 years of experience as a therapist, educator, peacebuilder, and trauma specialist. Sabrina received her PhD in Mind-Body Medicine from Saybrook University, where she studied the use of complementary and alternative interventions for physical, emotional, and spiritual growth. Since completing her doctorate, she has developed curricula and served as adjunct faculty for the Maryland University of Integrative Health and Saybrook University.
Sabrina is a proud senior faculty member of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, where she teaches the art of self-care to healthcare professionals and community leaders around the globe. As Center faculty, she has responded to community trauma in Las Vegas, Housotn, the Pine Ridge Reservation, New York City, and Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. She is currently serving the Center as a teacher and guide for healthcare professionals in Indianapolis, Central Asia, Iran, and the US Capitol Police. She remains humbled by the healing power of compassion, love, and forgiveness.
Spirituality and Bereavement:
This is the seventh annual collaborative workshop offered by the Institute for Spirituality and Health and Bo’s Place. Each year, we bring clinicians together for a powerful program to explore different dimensions of the relationship between spiritual/religious belief and practice and the end of life. Past topics include the spiritual grief journey, mourning rituals, conceptions of the afterlife, encounters with the deceased, and self-care for the grieving soul.