From Grieving Children to Contented Old Men: How True Friendship Rescued Us

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September 10, 2020 | 2:00 p.m. Eastern | 11:00 a.m. Pacific (1 hour)
Free for NAGC Members and Guests

Presentation Description

What is it like to be a young teenage male and lose your mother to suicide? To be left behind by the person who’s supposed to love you the most? Not knowing who to turn to for emotional support in the face of such a devastating loss? If you did seek help, personal or professional, and voice your grief and fears and litany of questions, would you be perceived by others, by society – or worse, see yourself -- as a weakling? Do you have the inner strength to remain silent, uncomplaining, ignoring your hurt, anger and confusion, and push forward as “real men” are supposed to do?

When Rick and David met in 1966, they were lonely, frustrated, subdued 17-year old boys whose mothers had ended their lives with sleeping pills just a few years before. Soon realizing the terrible “secret” they shared, they became friends instantly, brothers soon after. Whether it was fate or coincidence that brought them together, their friendship proved to be their salvation. At a time when the word “suicide” was taboo and family support services were scarce and perceived skeptically by many, including their fathers, they opened up to each other in ways they’d been unable to do with anyone else. In so doing, they soon grasped – and eventually confronted – the mix of pent up emotions that threatened to destroy them, as they had their mothers. During their 60-year friendship, they talked candidly about their mothers’ suicides only with each other (and years later, with two other close friends who had also lost a parent to suicide). Until recently, that is, when they were moved to share their story with family and close friends via Sons of Suicide: A Memoir of Friendship. Seven years in the writing, the book frankly reveals their uncertainties and dilemmas, regrets and triumphs -- and discloses snapshots of how their abiding friendship guided them through life’s most vulnerable moments. And still does, especially when it comes to the baffling, inescapable trauma of their mothers’ suicides.

In this webinar, they’ll share recollections, insights and lessons learned, and field questions regarding their experiences as life-long grieving children and survivors of suicide loss.

About the Presenters

Rick Knapp and David Pincus, co-authors of Sons of Suicide:  A Memoir of Friendship, have been close friends since meeting as high school seniors more than 50 years ago.  Both attended the University of Maryland as undergraduates – Rick in journalism and David in political science.  Subsequently, Rick earned his M.A. in journalism at The Ohio State University, while David stayed at Maryland for his Master’s and Ph.D. in organizational communication.

Following stints in the U.S. Air Force and at AT&T, Rick’s professional life was spent as a management consultant, partner and leader with global consulting firms Foster Higgins and Mercer, focusing on employee and organizational communication and human resources.  He retired in 2012, but has yet to slow down.  He serves on the boards of Cleveland Play House, America’s first regional theatre, and ideastream, the public media organization in Northeast Ohio.  Among his passions are photography, cooking, baseball and travel.  He and his wife Ellen still live in Cleveland.  

By contrast, David’s professional life followed two distinctly different directions, yet also within the field of communication.  The first was in business, most notably as Marriott Corporation’s first organization-wide employee communication director.  His later and longer role was in academia, where he held faculty and leadership positions in the communication and business schools at Cal State Fullerton and the University of Southern California, then as MBA director at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.  Now also retired, David and his wife Karen reside in Oceanside, California, and like Rick, David is an avid photographer, a huge baseball fan and an ardent world traveler.

Your Roadmap to CBEM Data

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September 29, 2020 | 2:00 p.m. Eastern | 11:00 a.m. Pacific (1.5 hours)
Free for NAGC Members and Guests

Presentation Description

Understanding the magnitude of childhood bereavement is a necessary and essential first step in elevating the issue to a level of critical public health importance nationwide. The Childhood Bereavement Estimation Model (CBEM) derives national and regional prevalence rates. This presentation will introduce the CBEM Roadmap, a guide designed to help you navigate using national, state, and local data to advocate for increased childhood bereavement awareness, education, and resources. Presenters will provide a general overview of 2020 CBEM results at the national and state levels, explore how publicly available data can contextualize results, and review several resources developed by Judi’s House and JAG Institute to create action steps.

Please pre-submit any CBEM related questions for this webinar to

Objectives

At the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

1. Articulate the prevalence of childhood bereavement at the national and state level using 2020 CBEM results
2. Identify demographic statistics that can help contextualize variations in childhood bereavement nationally and locally
3. Establish practical strategies for understanding childhood bereavement in your community

About the Presenters

Michaeleen (Micki) Burns, PhD, is the Chief Clinical Officer at Judi’s House and JAG Institute (JH/JAG). She is a Licensed Psychologist with 17 years’ experience providing assessment and therapeutic support to families facing adversity. In her work, she has witnessed the lasting, negative impact of unaddressed grief. She is dedicated to ensuring that appropriate services are available for all and to raising childhood bereavement to a level of critical public health importance. She oversees JH/JAG’s core initiatives—Direct Service, Evaluation and Research, and Training and Education—that work towards the JH/JAG vision that no child should be alone in grief.

Laura Landry, PhD is the Director of Evaluation and Research at Judi’s House/JAG Institute. She has 12 years’ experience evaluating community‐based programs and large‐scale prevention initiatives as well as building the capacity of organizations to utilize data to drive decisions. In her role, Laura oversees the Evaluation and Research Initiative, a core component of the Comprehensive Grief Care Model® followed at Judi’s House/JAG Institute. This Initiative focuses on evaluation of our services, research on the impact and course of childhood bereavement, and dissemination of data on the prevalence of childhood bereavement to inform advocates and practitioners working in the field.

No continuing education credit is available for this webinar

Exploring Día de los Muertos as a Way to Support Bereavement Programming

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October 6, 2020 | 3:00 p.m. Eastern | 12:00 p.m. Pacific (1 hour)
A NAGC Member-only event

Presentation Description

Día de los Muertos, or “Day of the Dead” in English, is a holiday celebrated throughout Latin America in which family and friends gather to remember their loved ones who have died. Designed for grief center professionals, this webinar will provide information regarding Día de los Muertos and how to implement the holiday intentionally into grief support programming. Ideas for activities and virtual engagement opportunities will also be included.

About the Presenter

Cristina M. Chipriano, LCSW-S is the Director of Spanish Programs and Outreach at Bo’s Place, a bereavement center in Houston, TX. She oversees the programming for and outreach to the bereaved Hispanic/Latino community of Houston. Cristina has also developed trainings/workshops for peer bereavement centers across the country that are seeking to provide culturally competent, bilingual grief support for bereaved families and education and training for professionals to support Hispanic/Latino populations.  She helped develop a grief and bereavement specific Spanish-language training that is offered at Bo’s Place for those providing services to Spanish-speaking families. Cristina also co-facilitated a quarterly program call for members of the National Alliance for Grieving Children (NAGC) who had an interest working with the Latino bereaved community.  In addition, she oversaw the translation of the NAGC’s “When Someone Dies: A Child-Caregiver Activity Book”. Cristina will be overseeing the NAGC Latinx Work Group whose purpose will be to develop a best practice guide and tips on “How to work with the Latinx Bereaved Community”.            

Cristina also provides psychotherapy within a clinical social work practice setting; primary specialization in grief therapy with children and adults, individuals and families. Cristina is serving on the Content Advisory Board for the WPSU Public Broadcasting Station/National Public Radio: The Grief Initiative Project. She previously served on the Executive Board of the Latino Social Workers of Greater Houston and continues to be a member of the Advisory Board for the network.

Cristina has a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Development and Family Science from the University of Texas at Austin and a Masters of Social Work from the University of Houston Graduate Collage of Social Work. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with supervisor status (LCSW-S) and formerly worked as a medical social worker in the Houston Medical Center. Cristina has been a social worker for 7 years.

Continuing Education credit is not available

Designed to “End the Suffering About Money” and Build a Base of Individual Donors

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October 21, 2020 | 2:00 p.m. Eastern | 11:00 a.m. Pacific (1.5 hours)
A NAGC Member-only event - 2 Part event, read below for more information!

Presentation Description

Founded in 2011 with a budget of $300,000, Imagine, A Center for Coping with Loss now has a budget of $1.4 million with over 65% of our revenue coming from individual donors. We focus the majority of our development efforts on a mission-driven fundraising philosophy focused on educating and inspiring individual donors and raising sustainable funding through our multi-year individual giving program and major gifts.

Part One of this webinar is attending an Imagine a World tour, a moving, inspiring, and educational one-hour information session about our mission and our programs. These tours offered three times a month at Imagine form the foundation of our individual giving program with over 300 guests attending every year.  Join us for a tour HERE reserved just for NAGC members and then attend Part-Two on October 21 from 2 PM – 3:30 PM. 

Upon leaving this webinar participants will understand the essential steps to building and growing a base of individual donors, telling the story of their vision and mission, diversifying revenue streams, and ending the cycle of suffering about money created by a dependence on special events and grants. While other nonprofits continue to complain about their lack of resources, you can confidently say “We’ve handled that!”

About the Presenter

Mary Robinson, MA, CT, is the Executive Director of Imagine, A Center for Coping with Loss located in Mountainside, NJ and the Founder and former Executive Director of Good Grief located in Morristown. She has over 35 years of business, management, technical, and training expertise in both the corporate and nonprofit sectors.  Leaving the corporate world in 1997 to volunteer and work full-time in the field of children’s grief support, Ms. Robinson is committed to creating communities where children coping with loss get the support they need to thrive, be resilient and grow up emotionally healthy.   Working and volunteering in the field of children’s grief support grew out of Mary’s own personal experience of loss as a child.  Her commitment is to ensure that no child grieves alone and that children in grief grow up emotional healthy, resilient and able to lead meaningful and productive lives.  

Mary has a BA in English, an MA in Applied Psychoanalysis and is a Certified Thanatologist.  She is a member of the Association for Death Education and Counseling and the National Alliance for Grieving Children, and serves as President of the Board of Trustees of the Academy of Clinical and Applied Psychoanalysis.  

Prior to working in the field of children's grief support Mary spent 14 years at Prudential Financial, first as a System Analyst and then for five years worked in Corporate Community Relations where she managed the company's volunteer programs and helped give money to nonprofits as Chair of the Employee Grant Making Committee for the Prudential Foundation.

Continuing Education credit is not available