Grieving the World We Lost? The Black Experience of COVID-19
Event Organizer
Online via ZOOM | FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | REGISTRATION REQUIRED | NO CE HOURS AVAILABLE
Worldwide Virtual Festival event organized by The Center for Complicated Grief as part of Reimagine: Life, Loss, & Love
About the Event
More than 100,000 people have died from Covid-19 so far in the US alone, with the mortality rate among Blacks more than twice that for Whites, a dramatic and morally untenable inequity that is not new. The pandemic has unmasked this reality of pervasive and egregious systemic inequities. This webinar focuses on the Black experience of loss and grief, framing these deaths from the perspective of both personal and social grief, both current and historic. We will include personal stories to draw attention to personal and social loss and grief. We will discuss prolonged grief as a social experience and ideas about intervention to address it. The webinar is presented by M. Katherine Shear, MD (bio), Director, Center for Complicated Grief, Columbia School of Social Work, Nicole Alston, MSW (bio), Associate, Center for Complicated Grief, Columbia School of Social Work, Darryl Owens, MDiv, BCC, CT, CPLC (bio), Chaplain & Grief Counselor, Women’s Services at UNC Medical Center, and Johnnie Green, DMin, MDiv (bio), Senior Pastor, Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem.
About the Center for Complicated Grief
The Center for Complicated Grief at the Columbia School of Social Work rests on a foundation of more than a decade of work aimed at helping people with complicated grief (CG) reclaim their lives. Under the leadership of Dr. M. Katherine Shear, we have developed and tested methods for recognizing, understanding, and treating CG, a painful and debilitating condition that affects the lives of millions of people in the United States alone. The centerpiece of our work is complicated grief treatment (CGT), a targeted psychotherapy proven efficacious in three National Institute of Mental Health-funded randomized controlled trials.
About the Reimagine Worldwide Virtual Festival
From May 1 through July 9, Reimagine is hosting a worldwide virtual festival on embracing life, facing death, and loving fully in the face of COVID-19. Changemakers in the arts, spirituality, healthcare, and design have come together to provide offerings that will transform our approach to life and death as we all navigate this global pandemic. Read more.
