This 3-hour training provides an overview of how children understand, experience, and express grief across developmental stages. Participants will explore emotional and behavioral responses to loss, the influence of family and cultural context, and the impact of trauma on the grieving process. Through brief case examples and interactive discussion, attendees will learn practical, age-appropriate strategies to support grieving children—whether in schools, homes, or clinical settings. The session also includes key concepts in pediatric palliative care to help professionals prepare families for end-of-life experiences, anticipatory grief, and early bereavement.

Learning Objectives

Children’s Grief Objectives:

1. Recognize Developmental Differences
   Identify how grief presents in children from early childhood through adolescence.
2. Identify Emotional & Behavioral Responses
   Understand common grief reactions—such as sadness, anger, regression, guilt, or withdrawal.
3. Understand Attachment & Environmental Influences
   Describe how family dynamics, attachment, culture, and environment shape a child’s grieving process.
4. Address Trauma-Related Grief
   Recognize when grief is complicated by trauma (e.g., sudden or violent loss).
5. Use Practical Support Strategies
   Apply communication techniques, play-based tools, and coping exercises to support grieving children.
6. Create Age-Appropriate Interventions
   Tailor grief activities and conversations to a child’s developmental level.
7. Identify Complicated Grief
   Recognize when a child may need additional intervention or referral.
8. Collaborate with Caregivers
   Support families in creating consistent, compassionate environments for grieving children.
9. Promote Long-Term Well-Being
   Understand long-term impacts of unaddressed grief and reinforce protective factors and resilience.

Palliative Care-Focused Objectives:

1. Explain the Role of Pediatric Palliative Care
   Understand goals of comfort, dignity, and emotional support during serious illness and end of life.
2. Describe Children’s Understanding of Illness & Death
   Recognize how developmental stages influence questions, fears, and meaning-making.
3. Use Compassionate Communication
   Support age-appropriate conversations about illness, dying, and fears.
4. Support Anticipatory Grief
   Identify signs of anticipatory grief and offer simple, supportive interventions.
5. Facilitate Family-Centered Decision-Making
   Approach families respectfully and sensitively during difficult choices.
6. Develop Comfort-Focused Coping Tools
   Provide children with strategies to manage emotions, fears, and uncertainty.
7. Incorporate Legacy Building
   Use memory-making and meaning-centered activities to support connection and closure.
8. Recognize Impact on Siblings & Peers
   Identify and respond to the needs of siblings and peers also affected.
9. Collaborate with Interdisciplinary Teams
   Understand how coordinated care among professionals enhances support.
10. Promote Post-Loss Continuity of Care
    Support families in early bereavement and connect them to ongoing resources.

Featuring:

Stephanie Nalley, Grief Specialist | With over a decade of experience supporting children, adolescents, and families navigating loss and trauma, Stephanie holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a focus on Crisis Counseling from Liberty University, is a Certified Mental Health Coach (CMHC), and is currently completing her Master’s in School Counseling. Stephanie has worked across schools, hospice organizations, and nonprofit grief programs, utilizing age-appropriate approaches such as play therapy, art therapy, and mindfulness.

Stephanie is especially known for her work with adolescents, helping teens build resilience while honoring the deeply personal nature of grief. Stephanie is also an educator and advocate, providing community workshops and professional trainings to promote grief awareness and reduce stigma.

Karleena Calimer, LMSW | Licensed in Maryland and Pennsylvania with over 10 years of experience in healthcare and hospice settings, Karleena earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Social Work from Shippensburg University and is currently pursuing her LCSW-C. Karleena serves as a Medical Social Worker with Hospice of Washington County (a Gilchrist Organization), providing pre-bereavement and grief support to individuals and families facing serious illness and loss.

Karleena also works as a Mental Health Clinician, integrating physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being into her therapeutic approach. Karleena has experience supporting individuals navigating grief, anxiety, depression, family transitions, and life stressors.

With gratitude, Brook Lane acknowledges this program is funded in part by the William B. and Sylvia A. Hunsberger Fund. Thank you.