Webinar: Suicide Bereavement and Complicated Grief

GUEST SPEAKER

Expert Speaker: John R. ("Jack") Jordan, PhD, FT, Founder, Family Loss Project, Boston, MA

Program Moderator: Jill Harrington LaMorie, MSW, LSW, ACSW, Director, Professional Education, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors.

John (Jack) Jordan, PhD, FT, is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Wellesley, MA, and Pawtucket, RI, where he specializes in working with loss and bereavement. He was also the founder and, until 2007, the director of the Family Loss Project, a research and clinical practice providing services for bereaved families. He has specialized in work with survivors of suicide and other losses for more than 30 years. Dr. Jordan maintains an active practice in grief counseling for individuals and couples. He has run support groups for bereaved parents, young widows and widowers and suicide survivors for over 13 years. Dr. Jordan is the clinical consultant for Grief Support Services of the Samaritans in Boston, where he is helping to develop innovative outreach and support programs for suicide survivors. He is also the professional advisor to the Survivor Council of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), and a former Board member of AFSP (New England Affiliate), Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) and TAPS. Dr. Jordan has been involved in several research projects on the needs of people grieving after a suicide and has published clinical and research articles in the areas of bereavement after suicide, support group models, the integration of research and practice in thanatology, and loss in family and larger social systems. He has published in professional journals such as Omega, Death Studies, Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, Crisis and Family Process. He is the co-author of After Suicide Loss: Coping with Your Grief, a book on suicide bereavement for surviving friends and family. He is currently co-editing a new professional book on working with suicide survivors.

TARGET AUDIENCE

This activity is intended for all professional caregivers providing services to military service members, military families, survivors grieving the death of a military service member, as well as those working in the community providing care to the bereaved. This activity includes, but is not limited to chaplains, casualty assistance officers, military personnel and leadership, social workers, nurses, counselors, marriage and family therapists, case managers, employee assistance professionals, school counselors, program directors, and other health and mental health professionals.  

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Identify at least four themes in bereavement after suicide.
2. Define the difference between grief and complicated mourning.
3. Describe common psychological recovery tasks for suicide survivors.
4. Identify broad clinical guidelines for work with mourners after a suicide.

CONTINUING EDUCATION INFORMATION FOR SOCIAL WORKERS, NURSES AND CHAPLAINS

For more information, contact education@taps.org