LIVE WEBINAR | Grief without witness: Understanding disenfranchised grief

Grief without witness: Understanding disenfranchised grief

with Dr Kenneth Doka

Who should attend this webinar?

Anyone who works in a professional care role or supports people experiencing loss and grief. This webinar is relevant to counsellors, social workers, psychologists, health and mental health professionals, educators, chaplains, hospice and palliative care providers, volunteers, and others working with individuals, families, and communities affected by loss.

Overview

Not all grief is openly acknowledged, socially supported, or publicly mourned. Disenfranchised grief occurs when a loss, a relationship, or a griever is not recognised or validated by society, leaving individuals to grieve in isolation and silence.

This webinar explores disenfranchised grief in contemporary contexts, examining the cultural, social, and relational factors that contribute to disenfranchisement. Participants will gain an understanding of how disenfranchised grief complicates the mourning process and increases the risk of complicated grief reactions. The session places strong emphasis on practical and ethical interventive strategies that can help enfranchise grief and restore meaning, connection, and support.

Key learning points

1. Defining disenfranchised grief and understanding its relevance in modern society

2. Common causes and cultural factors that lead to disenfranchisement

3. Contexts in which grief may be disenfranchised, including unrecognised relationships, losses, or grievers

4. How disenfranchisement complicates the mourning process

5. The impact of limited social support, lack of ritual, and concurrent crises

6. Interventive strategies for working with disenfranchised grief, including counselling approaches, support groups, and therapeutic rituals

7. Understanding the individual, organisational, and social costs of enfranchising grief

About the presenter

Dr Kenneth J. Doka is one of the world’s leading authorities on grief, bereavement, and end‑of‑life care. He is Senior Vice President for Grief Programs at the Hospice Foundation of America and Professor Emeritus of Gerontology at The College of New Rochelle. Dr Doka is widely recognised for coining the term disenfranchised grief and for his extensive contributions to understanding diverse grieving styles.

A prolific author, Dr Doka has written or edited more than 40 books and over 100 scholarly articles and chapters, including Disenfranchised Grief: Recognizing Hidden Sorrow, Grieving Beyond Gender, and Grief Is a Journey. He is editor of Omega: Journal of Death and Dying and Journeys: A Newsletter to Help in Bereavement, and maintains an ongoing blog, Good Mourning, for Psychology Today.

Dr Doka is a past president of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC), a Fellow of ADEC and the International Work Group on Death, Dying, and Bereavement, and a licensed mental health counselor in New York State. His lifetime contributions to the field have been recognised with numerous international awards, including ADEC’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

TO FIND OUT MORE AND BOOK: https://education.griefcentre.org.nz/course/disenfranchisedgrief_0626