Anticipatory Grief: Preparing System Involved Youth for an Expected Loss

Wendy Kessler, MSW, FT

Training Description

This training will equip participants with information and tools to effectively support system-involved youth and their families who are anticipating future losses. Anticipatory Grief is the distress a person may feel in the days, months, or even years before the death of a loved one or the impending loss of something highly valued. This pre-loss experience is processed differently than the grief that comes after loss. Whereas bereavement is a process of integration that helps us adapt to loss, anticipatory grief is largely an experience of managing distress and evolving hope that is best supported by increasing resilience and coping abilities.

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

● Identify 4 actions which can help you support system involved youth experiencing anticipatory grief.

● Identify 5 constructive ways to cope with anticipatory grief.

● Identify at least 1 strategy for teaching system-involved youth and their families to manage the distress of anticipatory grief.

Agenda

10:00 - 10:15am  Welcome & Introductions

10:15 - 11:00am  What is Anticipatory Grief?

● PPT Education

  ○ Anticipatory Grief defined

  ○ How Anticipatory Grief differs from grief after loss

  ○ Best practices for supporting people experiencing Anticipatory Grief

● Questions & Answers

11:00 - 11:25am  10 Constructive Ways to Cope with Anticipatory Grief

● PPT Education

● Group Discussion

11:25 - 11:50am  Expressive Arts Intervention to Express Anticipatory Grief

● Demonstration

● Group Discussion

11:50 – 11:55am  Grounding Exercise

11:55 - 12:00pm  Wrap-up

Meet Our Trainer

Wendy Kessler, MSW, FT is a Grief Specialist. She is credentialed as a Fellow in Thanatology (the study of death, dying, and bereavement) by the Association of Death Education and Counseling, and a Certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor. Wendy worked as hospice Bereavement Specialist from 2017-2022 – offering grief care to patients’ loved ones, hospice staff, and community partners. Through hospice work she recognized a gap in grief education for helping professionals, and a need for better understanding and support for grievers. As a result, she left corporate hospice care and launched Grief Guide Consulting, LLC in 2022. Her private practice grief services include individual counseling, support group facilitation, group education, and consulting. She believes that grief is not a problem to be fixed. It is a journey that we can learn to navigate, and when the path is unfamiliar or uncertain it can help to have a guide. You can learn more about Wendy or contact her at her website: www.griefguideconsulting.com.

This course meets the qualifications for (2.0) BBS CE hours for LCSWs, LMFTs, LPCCs, and LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences & is provided by Fred Finch Youth Center, CAMFT Provider #045295.