The Long Goodbye
Anticipatory Grief in Anxious Times — October 2024
Election season is a heightened period of collective dread and uncertainty. Anxiety over changes in political systems are often compounded by other kinds of impending loss. As individuals, we may be caring for a loved one in hospice, managing a debilitating illness, or facing our own mortality. Shared experiences of anticipatory grief include eco-anxiety over climate change and neighborhood transformations caused by cultural displacement and gentrification. How do we transform sorrow, helplessness, frustration, and anger – as well as other feelings associated with the promise of and preparation for loss – into a commitment to action?
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In the words of grief activist, social worker, and author Lisa Keefauver, “grief is a sneaky bitch.” It’s unpredictable. It shows up uninvited. And often, it arrives early when there’s an impending transition in our lives. Common expected losses can include receiving a terminal or life-limiting diagnosis for yourself or a loved one, but anticipatory grief can also result from other kinds of significant change in our social networks and environments. In this kickoff session for this three-part series, guest speakers will illuminate the common characteristics of anticipatory grief and share their personal stories and strategies for navigating this type of loss.
- How is anticipatory grief different from or related to grief after the death of someone we love?
- What are the ways to care for caregivers experiencing anticipatory grief?
- Why are the social stigmas and cultural myths that impact our ability to grieve the diagnosis of a chronic or serious illness?
- What kinds of support do BIPOC, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, veterans, and other underrepresented communities need when anticipating loss?
- When we foresee future devastation to the planet caused by climate change or environmental injustice, what can we do to hold space for ecological grief, preserve what remains and remember what we’ve lost?
Kyle Hill, Ph. D., MPH, is Ojibwe, Dakota and Lakota, enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in North Dakota, descendant of Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate (Dakota) and Cheyenne River Sioux (Lakota) tribal Nations. Dr. Hill is an assistant professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health. Dr. Hill completed a Master of Public Health degree at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University in May of 2020.
Throughout his education and training experiences, Dr. Hill has developed a multifaceted skill set in decolonizing mental health treatment, trauma-informed practices, health equity and Indigenous frameworks of health and wellness. In addition, he has helped guide projects in translational research utilizing community-based participatory frameworks. He has also supplemented his public health research and practice with a natural ability to create and deliver educational experiences in the areas of Indigenous ethnopsychologies, Indigenous research methodologies, decolonization in health and climate justice initiatives within American Indian and First Nations communities. In addition, He has worked with numerous American Indian tribes, as health professional, researcher, as well as leadership roles with youth. His research interests focus on climate change adaptation vis-a-vis Indigenous traditional practices and active engagement of Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledges.
Lisa Keefauver (moderator) is an in-demand grief activist, speaker and author. She began her career as a social worker and narrative therapist, then expanded her activism in a variety of roles: clinical director & supervisor, non-profit co-founder, facilitator of personal and professional growth and healing. Lisa's wisdom and insights on grief are also embodied from her personal losses. She is a mother of an adopted child, who became an only parent when she lost her husband Eric to brain cancer in 2011. Lisa's grief advocacy inspired her to found Reimagining Grief, with a mission to illuminate and dismantle the limited and misleading collective story of grief that causes so much unnecessary suffering. Best known for her interview skills as host of the top-rated podcast, Grief is a Sneaky Bitch, she has spent much of her time sharing her warmth, wisdom, humor and compassion facilitating conversations as a speaker and moderator on stages, as an organizational consultant to facilitate grief-smart companies, and leading workshops and retreats.
Grief is a Sneaky Bitch: An Uncensored Guide to Navigating Loss
Myra Sack is the author of "Fifty-Seven Fridays: Losing Our Daughter Finding Our Way," and founder and Executive Director of E-Motion, Inc. a nonprofit organization created to support community, movement and ritual to enhance coping and resilience. Myra's life changed when her older daughter, Havi, was diagnosed with a fatal neurodegenerative disease in December 2019. Havi died on January 20, 2021 of Tay-Sachs disease. Myra holds an MBA in Social Impact from Boston University, and graduated with a B.A. cum laude from Dartmouth College, where she captained the women's soccer team and earned All-America honors. She has devoted over a dozen years to youth serving nonprofits, including serving as Chief Program and Strategy Officer at Squashbusters, Inc. and leading program development across Latin America for Soccer Without Borders. A writer, speaker, and certified Compassionate Bereavement Care provider, Myra serves on the Board of the Courageous Parents Network and lives in Boston, MA with her husband Matt, their second daughter, Kaia, and son Ezra. Her writing has appeared in numerous national outlets including the Boston Globe Spotlight, Today.com, and Upworthy.
Dr. Qwynn Galloway-Salazar is the Founder and CEO of In Their Honor. As an Army Veteran, Spouse to a Combat Veteran, End-of-Life Doula Educator, and Storyteller, she has proudly devoted more than two decades to elevating the quality of life of military and Veteran communities.
In founding In Their Honor, Qwynn embarked on a mission to collaborate with communities, states, academia, and organizations to ensure Veterans and their loved ones receive the support they deserve through the end of life. Qwynn extends her expertise and strategic direction to numerous military and Veteran community efforts focused on women Veterans, LGBTQIA+ Veterans, workforce development, suicide prevention, caregiving, aging/longevity, and end-of-life. Notably, she served as the Lead Advisor for PsychArmor’s groundbreaking “Caring for Veterans Through the End-of-Life Collection.” This 3-part collection, infused with profound wisdom and empathy, offers invaluable guidance and support for Compassionate Communities, Caregivers/Loved Ones, and Healthcare Providers. In 2024, she was appointed to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization's End-of-Life Doula Council. Additionally, she is a founding member of the Compassionate Communities Think Tank (U.S.), advocating for social change related to community-based end-of-life support. Recognized as one of USA Today’s 2024 Women of the Year underscores her significant national contributions. Previously, the Georgia Department of Veterans Services awarded her the inaugural Woman Veteran of the Year (2022-2023). This dual recognition highlights her dedication, leadership, and commitment to making a difference in her community and the nation.
https://psycharmor.org/caring-for-veterans-through-end-of-life
Jamie Thrower (she/they) is a Queer death doula, end of life and grief educator, and founder of Queer Grief Club, an online community support and resource space for LGBTQ grievers. Jamie focuses her work on both advocacy and direct client care for LGBTQ folks in end-of-life and grief support.
About the Series “The Long Goodbye: Anticipatory Grief in Anxious Times”
Election season is a heightened period of collective dread and uncertainty. Anxiety over changes in political systems are often compounded by other kinds of impending loss. As individuals, we may be caring for a loved one in hospice, managing a debilitating illness, or facing our own mortality. Shared experiences of anticipatory grief include eco-anxiety over climate change and neighborhood transformations caused by cultural displacement and gentrification. How do we transform sorrow, helplessness, frustration, and anger – as well as other feelings associated with the promise of loss – into a commitment to action?
About Reimagine
Reimagine is a nonprofit organization catalyzing a uniquely powerful community–people of different backgrounds, ages, races, and faiths (and no faith) coming together in the hopes of healing ourselves and the world. We specifically support each other in facing adversity, loss, and mortality and channeling life's biggest challenges into meaningful action and growth.
Type:
Talk, Panel, & Conversation,
Grief often refers to what we experience following a significant loss. Yet while we are in the process of expecting a loss, we may also experience what is called, “anticipatory grief.” This pre-grief can occur even while your loved one is still with you, or if you are about to face a significant loss or illness yourself. The Latin root of the term anticipate is “ante” and “capere,” or to take advanced measure of something. Led by J’aime Morrison – a dancer, choreographer, and widow – this workshop will offer a space to explore and express the often complex, embodied sensations involved in anticipatory grief. How can we feel such profound loss even while our loved ones are still with us? Living with the uncertainty of anticipatory loss is to exist in a liminal space. Join J’aime and a community of grievers for this special somatic exploration of anticipatory grief as we inhabit and transform this space through movement.
J'aime Morrison is a Professor of Movement at California State University, Northridge. She holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from New York University and was a Faculty Fulbright Scholar in Movement to Lisbon, Portugal. In fall 2023 Professor Morrison was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Oviedo in Spain where she gave the plenary lecture for the annual meeting of HEAL: Health, Environment, Arts and Literature, an international research group working in the fields of Medical and Environmental Humanities. Professor Morrison recently returned from Ireland where she led workshops on ritual expressions of grief and rage at University College Cork. She has also led masterclasses in movement in Shanghai, Dublin, Belfast, London, Los Angeles and New York City. Her classes engage creative methodologies and movement-based practices from theatre and dance-making to create an expansive and inclusive space for physical expression.
As the founder of Mourning Surf, Professor Morrison turns her attention to grief and the body, specifically how grief is expressed physically and how movement is an essential part of the grieving and healing process. For the international organization Hope for Widows she developed a series of expressive movement workshops offered via Zoom throughout the pandemic and she continues to build on this work by offering movement for grief workshops. She has facilitated grief movement on retreats with Camp Widow and TwoCan Retreats, and with UCLA’s Center for Healing and Expressive Arts and Reimagine, as well as private coaching sessions. This summer she provided movement for grief at Camp Erin through Our House Center for Bereavement and in November she will lead a somatic movement workshop at this year’s Endwell Conference.
After losing her beloved husband Jim to brain cancer in 2015, J’aime began working on a short film titled Upwell, which composes a visual intersection of body movements to translate her experience of grieving, illustrating the role of both dance and surfing in her journey. The film has been an Official Selection at numerous film festivals and won “Best Experimental Film” from The Santa Barbara International Fine Art Film Festival and the California International Shorts Film Festival. Upwell was awarded “Outstanding Excellence” in Direction and Original Concept at the Depth of Field International Film Festival and the film was awarded the “Audience Award” at the Cannes International Short Film Festival.
https://linktr.ee/Mourningsurf
About the Series “The Long Goodbye: Anticipatory Grief in Anxious Times”
Election season is a heightened period of collective dread and uncertainty. Anxiety over changes in political systems are often compounded by other kinds of impending loss. As individuals, we may be caring for a loved one in hospice, managing a debilitating illness, or facing our own mortality. Shared experiences of anticipatory grief include eco-anxiety over climate change and neighborhood transformations caused by cultural displacement and gentrification. How do we transform sorrow, helplessness, frustration, and anger – as well as other feelings associated with the promise of loss – into a commitment to action?
About Reimagine
Reimagine is a nonprofit organization catalyzing a uniquely powerful community–people of different backgrounds, ages, races, and faiths (and no faith) coming together in the hopes of healing ourselves and the world. We specifically support each other in facing adversity, loss, and mortality and channeling life's biggest challenges into meaningful action and growth.
Type:
Movement & Dance, Workshop,
For those expecting and preparing for loss, join a conversation with writer, filmmaker teacher, and healer Darnell Lamont Walker and grief expert Claire Bidwell Smith. Both will offer guidance in taking steps – both large and small – towards learning, transformation, and action when faced with adversity.
Following a discussion, we invite you to join small peer-led breakout room sessions guided by the following prompts:
- How are you staying present and taking care of yourself as you navigate anticipatory grief?
- What steps can you take to carry your grief with intention in order to continue to grow, heal, and thrive?
[These prompts relate to two stages in the Conscious Grieving framework developed by Claire Bidwell Smith.]
Darnell Lamont Walker is an Emmy-Nominated children's television writer who understands the power of representation and joy, creating content in hopes that all children get the opportunity to not only see themselves, but see how incredible they are and can be. And he’s a death doula, helping individuals and communities move through grief and toward healing and happiness. Currently living between the Chattahoochee National Forest of Georgia and Johannesburg, South Africa, Darnell’s goal with his is to continue to support children, adults, and whole communities around the world through the building of safe and happy spaces.
Recognized as one of today’s foremost experts on grief, Claire Bidwell Smith is a licensed therapist, international speaker, and the author of five books published in 22 countries. Led by her own experience in grief and fueled by her work in hospice and private practice, Claire strives to provide support for all kinds of people experiencing all kinds of loss. Claire has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, MSNBC, CNN, Scientific American, Goop, Oprah and many more outlets. Her most recent books Anxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief and Conscious Grieving have provided groundbreaking and transformative approaches to the process of grief.
About the Series “The Long Goodbye: Anticipatory Grief in Anxious Times”
Election season is a heightened period of collective dread and uncertainty. Anxiety over changes in political systems are often compounded by other kinds of impending loss. As individuals, we may be caring for a loved one in hospice, managing a debilitating illness, or facing our own mortality. Shared experiences of anticipatory grief include eco-anxiety over climate change and neighborhood transformations caused by cultural displacement and gentrification. How do we transform sorrow, helplessness, frustration, and anger – as well as other feelings associated with the promise of loss – into a commitment to action?
About Reimagine
Reimagine is a nonprofit organization catalyzing a uniquely powerful community–people of different backgrounds, ages, races, and faiths (and no faith) coming together in the hopes of healing ourselves and the world. We specifically support each other in facing adversity, loss, and mortality and channeling life's biggest challenges into meaningful action and growth.
