Understanding Grief as an Anxiety Response, not a Mood Disorder, & How to Support Affected System-Involved Youth

Wendy Kessler, MSW, FT

Training Description

All loss - death as well as non-death loss - is processed as grief; and the normative grief we experience is often misunderstood as a mood disruption rather than an anxiety response. But for many grievers when a loss we feared has become our reality, managing anxiety is a more intense support need than our feelings of sadness as we are processing and adapting to loss. This training will provide insight into the confluence of grief and anxiety, and supportive techniques to help grieving system-involved youth self-soothe. Participants will be informed through presenter instruction, a slide presentation, case study analysis, and explanation of supportive techniques. To increase participant engagement and content retention, the presenter will also utilize the chat box, reaction emojis, guided participant discussion, and Questions & Response.

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to :

●        Identify 1 common reason grief responses…