Grief Support Services Fall Conference

Essentia Health St. Mary’s Grief Support Services

Virtual Grief Conference

Friday, December 19, 2025, 8:30-4:30pm central

When Grief is Complicated: Navigating ambiguous loss and disenfranchised grief with compassion and creativity

Darcy Harris, RN, RSW, MEd(Couns), PhD, FT

Maegan Parker Brooks, PhD

Morning session

Darcy Harris, PhD: Navigating non death loss and disenfranchised grief with compassion

Although most people are familiar with grief that occurs after the death of a loved one, due to an aging population and advances in medical technology, we are now seeing an increase in grief that accompanies losses that are non-death in origin. Some of the more common non-death loss experiences include the loss of independence and loss of cognitive abilities that create issues of lost identity, increased care needs, and family decision-making that are permeated by grief that is often not recognized or acknowledged. Many of these losses are ongoing in nature, leading to significant anxiety and exhaustion, or they are ambiguous in their orientation, making it challenging to identify what exactly has been lost. The first portion of this workshop will identify and describe specific types of non-death loss and the unique grief that accompanies them, focusing on compassion-based practices as the foundation for those who care for these individuals and their families.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify and describe different types of non-death loss experiences.
2. Discuss the unique aspects of grief that accompanies specific types of non-death losses, and the implications for offering support in these situations.
3. Describe how non-death losses (including ambiguous losses) are disenfranchised and the implications of disenfranchised grief related to these types of losses.
4. Explore a non-interventionist model for supporting individuals who are grieving secondary to specific types of non-death losses.
5. Apply concepts related to compassion training to situations where supporting people with long-term, living losses is needed.

Darcy Harris, RN, RSW, MEd(couns), PhD, FT is Professor Emeritus of Thanatology at King’s University College/ Western University in London, Canada. She is also a faculty member of the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition and co-editor for Routledge publishing company’s Death, Dying, and Bereavement Series. Her research interests include non-death loss and grief, including structural, political, and environmental grief, in addition to social justice issues in contexts of loss and grief, and the application of compassion-based approaches to loss and grief.

Afternoon session:

Maegan Parker Brooks, PhD: Sanctuary and Bridge: Expressive Arts for Caregivers and the Bereaved

Grief speaks in many languages, including through creative expression. The compelling human need to give form to complex feelings points us toward powerful tools for reconstructing meaning in lives shattered by loss. This workshop explores how expressive arts can serve as both sanctuary and bridge for grief professionals—offering essential tools for preventing vicarious trauma while providing innovative approaches for supporting people navigating complex losses, including death by overdose and estranged relationships. Through an introduction to visual journaling, graphic medicine, the Rückenfigur, and ritual design, participants will discover how creative expression provides language for the ineffable aspects of grief. You will leave with adaptable techniques to integrate into your practice, whether supporting people experiencing complex and disenfranchised grief or developing self-care practices—recognizing that the same creative modalities that help those we serve can restore and sustain us as caregivers.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify and describe the various "languages of grief."
2. Recognize and discuss the therapeutic benefits of expressive arts for both grief professionals seeking to prevent burnout, as well as for effectively supporting the bereaved.
3. Explore expressive arts approaches specifically designed for preventing vicarious traumatization and promoting sustainable caregiver resilience among grief professionals.
4. Examine specialized expressive arts interventions designed for engaging grief surrounding complex relationships, including death by overdose and estranged relationships.
5. Adapt and apply an understanding of grief languages and expressive arts techniques to real-world scenarios involving people who are grieving complex, ambiguous, or disenfranchised losses.

Maegan P. Brooks, PhD, is a faculty member with the Portland Institute of Loss and Transition. She is also Associate Professor and Chair of Civic Communication & Media at Willamette University, where she teaches Death and Grief Communication, Autoethnography, and Artful Communication for Wellbeing courses. As co-founder and co-facilitator of Diversity of Loss—an intergenerational arts-based grief support group—Brooks directly serves those navigating both death and non-death losses through compassion-based and meaning reconstruction approaches. Certified in Arts-Assisted Grief Therapy, she integrates expressive arts methodologies into both her academic teaching and community-based grief support groups.

A certificate of attendance for 6.5 CEU’s will be included along with digital training materials. Approval has been granted for 6.5 credits from the MN Board of Social Work. Early bird registration before November 17 is $125. Registration after that time is $155. To register visit  Fall Conference 2025 | Essentia Health

Or for more information please email [email protected] and put “fall conference” in the subject line. This conference is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Essentia Health Foundation’s Paul Antonich Memorial Fund.