Understanding Childhood Bereavement: How To Support Bereaved Families

Losing a loved one early in life is a profoundly devastating experience. Our goal at Myra's Kids Foundation is to help bereft children learn to cope, begin to heal, and discover that there can be hope after a significant death. We provide year-round support to children and their extended family by funding, initiating and organizing programs aimed at supporting children dealing with grief. We also organize conferences aimed at providing professionals with the latest information related to dealing with childhood grief.Every summer we host an annual weekend summer camp retreat, where bereaved children can honour the memory of a special person who has died.

Myra's Kids Foundation

Understanding childhood bereavement: How professionals can support bereaved families after loss.
 
A Professional Development Workshop

It is estimated that 1 in 14 children will experience the death of a parent or sibling by the time they turn 18 (Statistics Canada, 2016 Census of Canada and 2016 Mortality Data). Due to the taboo nature of this topic, childhood bereavement is often misunderstood and rarely discussed. Through a combination of theory and personal testimonial, professionals will improve their understanding of childhood grief, including how it manifests at various developmental stages. Special attention will be given to identifying the professional’s personal connection with grief and the impact that their own experiences with death, or lack thereof, may have on their work with bereaved families. Participants will learn concrete guidelines &amp; interventions to help bereaved children express their emotions.

Who should attend this workshop?This workshop was developed for health care professionals who want to develop a more detailed understanding of childhood bereavement and enhance their practice when encountering encountered with children and/or their families who have experienced the death of loved one. A certificate of participation will be providedThis workshop will be offered in English, however participants are welcome to ask questions in French.

Workshop Schedule: 9:00 - 10:00 	Welcome &amp; Introduction to the topic of childhood bereavement<ul><li>Clinicians self-awareness related to grief and loss</li><li>Identification of various types of grief</li><li>Understanding developmental stages of grief on in children </li></ul>Break: 10 minutes 10:10 - 10:50	Case PresentationCase presentation by Dr. Dahlia Guttman; Illustrating the importance and need for formalized education on grief and bereavement for all initial frontline crisis intervention responders. from social workers to nurses and primary care physicians.Break: 10 minutes11:00 - 12:00	Interventions that workCorrie Sirota will outline how professionals can support bereaved children and demonstrate concrete activities to help children understand their loss including: <ul><li>Interventions that help children honor the memory of the deceased</li><li>Interventions that help children express their feelings</li></ul>The workshop will culminate with a brief Question and Answer period with both presenters.

Presenters: Corrie Sirota holds a Master’s Masters degree in Social Work from McGill University, (Montreal, Canada) as well as a Graduate Certificate in Loss and Bereavement where she continues to teach as a sessional lecturer in the School of Social Work. As a licensed psychotherapist, Corrie maintains a private practice and spends much of her work facilitating psycho-social educational workshops for schools, camps, community agencies, and organizations. Corrie is also a published author, clinical director of Myra’s Kids Foundation and the co-host of the weekly radio show Life Unrehearsed on CJAD 800. Dr. Dahlia Guttman is a family physician working in the Emergency Department at the Jewish General Hospital and at GMF Santé Mont-Royal, a general family practice clinic in Montreal. She received her medical degree from McGill University where she also completed her residency in Family Medicine followed by a specialized fellowship in Emergency Medicine. Dr. Guttman is a mother of three children. She developed an interest in loss and bereavement after the sudden, unexplained death of her 2-year-old daughter Ronnie in January 2020.

At Myra's Kids Foundation, we understand the necessity of accompanying children through their grief experience and we also know that grief is an ongoing process that lasts long after the funeral. It is with this in mind that we created a take home experience that can offer the child and ongoing way to think about, express, and process their feelings in a safe environment and in the privacy of their own home, at their own pace, and in their own time. <h3>We are offering this children's grief journal at a special conference price of $10. To order please add-on at checkout and provide us with your mailing address.</h3>

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Understanding Childhood Bereavement: How To Support Bereaved Families

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