AN HOUR WITH DEAN BEGG FEATURING DR. KATHERINE SHEAR—FOR CSSW ALUMNI ONLY

CSSW ALUMNI ONLY | ONLINE ONLY (VIA ZOOM) | REGISTRATION REQUIRED

COVID-19 AND PROLONGED GRIEF DISORDER
Dr. M. Katherine Shear is the Marion E. Kenworthy Professor of Psychiatry and the founding
Director of the Center for Complicated Grief at Columbia School of Social Work. Dr. Shear is a
clinical researcher who first worked in anxiety and depression. For the last two decades she has
focused on understanding and treating people who experience persistent intense grief which is
now an official diagnosis called Prolonged Grief Disorder in the DSM-5. She developed and
tested Prolonged Grief Disorder Therapy (PGDT), a short-term, strength-based intervention that
helps foster adaptation to loss and confirmed its efficacy in three large NIMH-funded studies.
Dr. Shear is currently collaborating with a faith-based civil rights organization with leadership in
Harlem called Mobilizing Preachers and Communities. The project aims to refine digital tools
and other means to support the work of pastors and community caretakers who are battling the
social and emotional toll of the pandemic in the Harlem community.

About the Event
We have seen many challenges in the past 18 months, and though we are starting to see improvement there will be more need for social workers in the near future.  Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) is now an official DSM diagnosis and it’s likely that this will be one of the lingering   problems deriving from the COVID-19 pandemic.  Dr. Katherine Shear, Marion E. Kenworthy Professor of Psychiatry in Social Work, will join Dean Melissa Begg for a conversation on COVID -19 and the impact it will have on the need for evidence-based PGD treatment.

Questions?
Please contact sswalumni@columbia.edu with any questions.