Motherless Mother's Day: Author talk - Dr. Joanne Cacciatore
This event is part of the Motherless Mother's Day series. All Motherless Mother's Day events are by donation and ALL funds generated will go directly to each individual event's host. You will receive a link to donate directly to your host in a follow-up email from the organizer.
We are so grateful to have Dr. Joanne speaking on behalf of The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation!
Join Alica Forneret for an intimate conversation with Dr. Joanne Cacciatore, author of Bearing the Unbearable. We will spend time discussing the book, her work as a bereavement educator, and her long-time friendship with Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross.
About Bearing the Unbearable: When a loved one dies, the pain of loss can feel unbearable—especially in the case of a traumatizing death that leaves us shouting, “NO!” with every fiber of our body. The process of grieving can feel wild and nonlinear—and often lasts for much longer than other people, the nonbereaved, tell us it should.
Organized into fifty-two short chapters, Bearing the Unbearable is a companion for life’s most difficult times, revealing how grief can open our hearts to connection, compassion, and the very essence of our shared humanity. Dr. Joanne Cacciatore—bereavement educator, researcher, Zen priest, and leading counselor in the field—accompanies us along the heartbreaking path of love, loss, and grief. Through moving stories of her encounters with grief over decades of supporting individuals, families, and communities—as well as her own experience with loss—Cacciatore opens a space to process, integrate, and deeply honor our grief.
Not just for the bereaved, Bearing the Unbearable will be required reading for grief counselors, therapists and social workers, clergy of all varieties, educators, academics, and medical professionals. Organized into fifty-two accessible and stand-alone chapters, this book is also perfect for being read aloud in support groups.
About Dr. Joanne Cacciatore: "I am a reasonably happy, contemplative person with plenty of quirks who cries every day at both the beauty and the pain in the world. My daily mindfulness practice is what helps me work in a very challenging field and benefits "I, Thou, and We."
Since 1996, I have worked with and counseled those affected by traumatic death, particularly the death of a baby or child at any age and from any cause. I use non-traditional, mindfulness-based approaches such as trauma focused psychoeducation, fully present narration, emotion-focused imaginal dialogue, equine assisted trauma work, bibliotherapy, ecotherapy, meditation, yoga, and shinrin-yoku. I started the first therapeutic carefarm in the United States and the first in the world for traumatic grief based on a framework for incorporating 33 domestic and farm animals rescued from abuse, torture, neglect, and homelessness. It's called Selah Carefarm.
I spend much of my time as a professor & researcher at Arizona State University and the founder of the MISS Foundation, an international nonprofit organization with 75 chapters around the world aiding parents whose children have died or are dying. I began the Kindness Project in 1997 as a way to help many grieving parents honor their beloved children who have died."
About The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation: The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation is 501(c)(3) volunteer-based organization inspired by the life of psychiatrist, humanitarian and hospice pioneer, Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross.
Though Elisabeth is often described as the “death and dying lady” or the “creator of the Five Stages” she often referred to herself as the “life and living lady”.
It is in the spirit of embracing all of life, which includes death, that we further the mission and vision of Elisabeth through the work of the Foundation that bears her name.
