Purpose
The Grief and Loss Project is a collaboration between The Boggs Center on Disability and Human Development and the Division of Developmental Disabilities that recognizes the high probability the people with intellectual and developmental disabilities we support will live through the deaths of loved ones and the grief reactions those deaths inspire. Natural grief reactions can be made more complicated by life experiences unique to the history of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, characteristics of the support systems they rely on, and misguided perceptions regarding their capacities to feel and understand loss. The purpose of this project is to increase the ability of service providers and families to understand the nature of grief and loss as it is often experienced by people with ID/D and learn strategies for supporting people through their times of loss and grief.
Training
The Grief and Loss Project provides in-person and virtual training for professionals, family members, and related services providers. Topics include types of grief, loss, and bereavement; recognizing natural, complicated and complex grief reactions; strategies to employ when supporting people as they anticipate the death of a loved one, live through the initial grief of a loved one’s loss, and strive to meet the on-going challenges of significant holidays, anniversaries, and collateral as well as cumulative losses from their personal journeys.
For current training opportunities, please visit The Boggs Center Online Registration System.
Technical Assistance
Technical assistance is available in-person, by phone, or virtually for day and residential program staff and families. Typical areas for technical assistance include information and resources on recognizing and supporting unresolved grief in individuals and groups, strategies to employ to help people avoid complex, prolonged grief, and how to design organizational policies and practices that acknowledge the losses people experience and promote healthy expressions of their grief responses. Contact margaret.gilbride@rutgers.edu for more information.
