About this course

Learning Objectives

• Identify and differentiate various types of loss and grief.
• Describe different styles and expressions of grieving across individuals and groups.
• Assess factors that influence grief.
• Discuss how professional and societal views of grief have evolved over time and how these shifts inform contemporary clinical practice.

Learning Levels

• Beginner

Target Audience

Course Instructor(s)

• 

  Madi Day, LMSW

  Director of Community Services, The Grief Center

  Madi is a Licensed Master Social Worker under Clinical Supervision. A graduate of OU-Tulsa’s Master of Social Work program, Madi currently serves as the Director of Community Services at The Grief Center. She holds a graduate certificate in Social Work with American Indians and is trained in providing Trauma and Grief Component Therapy for Adolescents. Madi is dedicated to supporting children and families through their grief journey. As a grief counselor, Madi provides compassionate counseling for individuals and families; facilitates therapy groups for adults and families; and engages the community through The Grief Center’s outreach services.

References

• American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
• Balk, D. E., Wogrin, C., Thornton, G., & Meagher, D. K. (Eds.). (2007). Handbook of thanatology: The essential body of knowledge for the study of death, dying, and bereavement. Association for Death Education and Counseling.
• Bonanno, G. A. (2004). Loss, trauma, and human resilience: Have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events? American Psychologist, 59(1), 20–28. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.59.1.20
• Boss, P. (2006). Loss, trauma, and resilience: Therapeutic work with ambiguous loss. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Bunch, J., Barraclough, B., Nelson, B., & Sainsbury, P. (1971). Suicide following bereavement of parents. Social Psychiatry, 6(4), 193–199. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00578368
• D'Alton, S. V., Ridings, L., Williams, C., & Phillips, S. (2022). The bereavement experiences of children following sibling death: An integrative review. Journal of pediatric nursing, 66, e82–e99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedn.2022.05.006
• Djelantik, A. A. A. M., Robinaugh, D. J., & Boelen, P. A. (2022). The course of symptoms in the first 27 months following bereavement: A latent trajectory analysis of prolonged grief, posttraumatic stress, and depression. Psychiatry Research, 311, 114472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114472
• Doka, K. J. (2002). Disenfranchised grief: New directions, challenges, and strategies for practice. Research Press.
• Doka, K. J., & Martin, T. L. (2010). Grieving beyond gender: Understanding the ways men and women mourn (Rev. ed.). Routledge.
• Doka, K. J., & Tucci, A. S. (Eds.). (2008). Living with grief: Children and adolescents. Hospice Foundation of America.
• Dowdney, L. (2000). Annotation: Childhood bereavement following parental death. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41(7), 819–830. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021963099006216
• Dyregrov, A. (2008). Grief in children: A handbook for adults. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
• Falala, A., Lannes, A., Bui, E., & Revet, A. (2024). Prevalence of prolonged grief disorder in bereaved children and adolescents: A systematic review. L'Encéphale, 50(5), 557–565. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.encep.2023.11.016
• Freud, S. (1960). Letter to Binswanger (Letter 239). In E. L. Freud (Ed.), Letters of Sigmund Freud. Basic Books. (Original work published 1929)
• Gamino, L. A., & Ritter, R. H., Jr. (2009). Ethical practice in grief counseling. Springer Publishing Company.
• Hill, R., Oosterhoff, B., Layne, C., Rooney, E., Yudovich, S., Pynoos, R., & Kaplow, J. (2019). Multidimensional grief therapy: Pilot open trial of a novel intervention for bereaved children and adolescents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 28(11), 3062–3074. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01487-8
• Jann, P., Winkler, N., Karutz, H., et al. (2026). Risk factors for maladaptive grief and posttraumatic stress in children and adolescents following loss: A systematic review. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 20, Article 55. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-026-01076-7
• Kaplow, J. B., Layne, C. M., Saltzman, W. R., Cozza, S. J., & Pynoos, R. S. (2013). Using multidimensional grief theory to explore the effects of deployment, reintegration, and death on military youth and families. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 16(3), 322–340. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-013-0143-1
• Meier, A. M., Carr, D. R., Currier, J. M., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2013). Attachment anxiety and avoidance in coping with bereavement: Two studies. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 32(3), 315–334.
• Neimeyer, R. A. (2006). Complicated grief and the reconstruction of meaning: Conceptual and empirical contributions to a cognitive-constructivist model. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 13(2), 141–145. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2850.2006.00016.x
• Neimeyer, R. A. (Ed.). (2011). Grief and bereavement in contemporary society: Bridging research and practice. Routledge.
• Rando, T. A. (1993). Treatment of complicated mourning. Research Press.
• Rando, T. A. (2000). Anticipatory mourning: A review and critique of the literature. In T. A. Rando (Ed.), Clinical dimensions of anticipatory mourning: Theory and practice in working with the dying, their loved ones, and their caregivers (pp. 17–50). Research Press.
• Rosenblatt, P. C. (1997). Grief in small-scale societies. In C. M. Parkes, P. Laungani, & B. Young (Eds.), Death and bereavement across cultures (pp. 27–51). Routledge.
• Rubin, S. S., Malkinson, R., & Witztum, E. (2012). Working with the bereaved: Multiple lenses on loss and mourning. Routledge.
• Schenck, L. K., Eberle, K. M., & Rings, J. A. (2015). Insecure attachment styles and complicated grief severity. OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying, 73(3), 231–249. https://doi.org/10.1177/0030222815576124
• Schonfeld, D. J., & Quackenbush, M. (2010). The grieving student: A teacher's guide. Paul H. Brookes Publishing.
• Sillis, L., Claes, L., & Andriessen, K. (2022). Association between Grief and Somatic Complaints in Bereaved University and College Students. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(19), 12108. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912108
• Smith, H. I. (2012). Borrowed narratives: Using biographical and historical grief narratives with the bereaving. Routledge.
• Stroebe, M. (2015). Is grief a disease? Why Engel posed the question. OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying, 71(3), 272–279. https://doi.org/10.1177/0030222815575504
• Stroebe, M., Schut, H., & Stroebe, W. (n.d.). Models of coping with grief and trauma. PsycEXTRA Dataset. https://doi.org/10.1037/e536912011-080
• Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (2004). Posttraumatic growth: Conceptual foundations and empirical evidence. Psychological Inquiry, 15(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1501_01
• Wilcox, H. C., Kuramoto, S. J., Lichtenstein, P., Långström, N., Brent, D. A., & Runeson, B. (2010). Psychiatric morbidity, violent crime, and suicide among children and adolescents exposed to parental death. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 49(5), 514–530. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-201005000-00012
• Wilson, D. M., Macleod, R., & Houttekier, D. (2015). Examining linkages between bereavement grief intensity and perceived death quality. OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying. https://doi.org/10.1177/0030222815598442
• Winokuer, H. R., & Harris, D. L. (2021). Principles and practices of grief counseling (2nd ed.). Springer Publishing Company.
• Worden, J. W. (1996). Children and grief: When a parent dies. Guilford Press.
• Worden, J. W. (2009). Grief counseling and grief therapy: A handbook for the mental health practitioner (4th ed.). Springer Publishing Company.