COVID-19’s Impact on Loss and Grief
Presenter: Gae Savino, LCSW, CT and Linnie Larson Pickering, LMSW
NASW-NYS Members: $20
NASW Other Chapter Member: $30
Non-Members: $40
This workshop is approved for 2.0 continuing education credit hour(s) for licensed social workers, licensed mental health counselors, and licensed marriage and family therapists.
Workshop Description
Covid-19’s Impact on Loss and Grief will be comprised of two parts:
Part I: “An Overview of the Components of Loss and Grief” It includes definitions of loss and grief, types of grief, symptoms of grief, impact of acute grief, the grief process, adaptation and integration of grief, and Complicated Grief (CG) and its symptoms and causes.
Part II: “The Effects of Covid-19” It includes loss of an assumptive world, anticipatory grief, disenfranchised grief, grief overload, risk factors for Complicated Grief and Complicated Grief Treatment (CGT) interventions. The remainder of the course will focus on the necessity to adapt to a new way of conducting rituals, ceremonies, customs, memorial services, religious practices and continued bonds. In addition, it will explore ways to find new meaning, purpose and re-engagement in life, as well as provide coping skills/strategies to reduce stress and manage emotional regulation. The course will include the use of case-studies.
Learning Objectives
After the completion of this webinar, participants will be able to:
- Identify the definitions of loss and grief: its layers and impact
- Describe the spectrum of loss responses and grief reactions
- Recognize how COVID-19 derails adaptation and integration of loss and grief
- Understand the impact of multiple losses and complications of grief during COVID-19
- Apply interventions, coping skills and self-care strategies for emotional regulation when working with clients experiencing grief and loss
This workshop is approved for 2.0 continuing education credit hour(s).
NASW-NYS is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers (Provider ID #0014), licensed mental health counselors (Provider ID #MHC-0053), and licensed marriage and family therapists. (Provider ID #MFT-0037).
Gae Savino, LCSW, CT is inspired by her 911 experience at Ground Zero in 2001. She transitioned to become a licensed clinical social worker following a 35+ year career as a professional fundraiser managing multi-million-dollar capital campaigns and annual philanthropic programs. Gae is a grief counselor Certified in Thanatology (CT), the study of death, dying and bereavement by the Association for Death Education and Counseling. Gae earned her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Fordham University and has extensive postgraduate training at Columbia University’s Center for Complicated Grief. She brings extensive experience in developing an empathetic relationship with individuals in therapy and an intense focus on conducting bereavement support groups due to Covid-19, addiction, spousal/partner, and parent loss. In session, Gae utilizes the Dual Process Model of Coping with Grief, Complicated Grief Treatment, Collaborative Solution-Focused Therapy, and Dialectic Behavioral Therapy while centering these therapies from an individual’s self-determination and strength-based perspective. She earned her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Fordham University and has extensive post-graduate training at Columbia University’s Center for Complicated Grief. Gae is a frequent workshop presenter on issues of loss, death, dying and bereavement.
Linnie Larson Pickering, LMSW received her BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania and her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Columbia University, where she won the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement. She is a specialist in the prevention of domestic violence, child abuse, suicide, and sexual assault. She has worked on New York State suicide, crisis, and domestic violence hotlines. She has developed and presented workshops on the above topics at both national and international schools and educational conferences. She co-authored “34 Cranberry Lane,” a video and discussion workshop on Domestic Violence in suburbia. Linnie is the author of Blue Sky: The Oral History of James L Greenwald, in which he reminisces about a life and career lived to the fullest as well as the emotional challenges of aging, declining health and facing one’s own mortality. Linnie did extensive postgraduate training at Columbia University’s Center for Complicated Grief. She has a private therapy practice in Rye, NY with a focus on loss and grief, and she is a frequent workshop presenter on topics related to loss, death, dying, bereavement and COVID-19.