Grief Work & Suicide

Amy Wright Glenn and Utah-based therapist, Camille Hawkins LCSW collaborated to craft a 5-hour “Grief Work and Suicide” online training for all who want to further study, understand, and reflect upon supporting families who are affected by suicide. Five CEU credits (2 suicide and 3 ethics) are approved through NASW Utah for Utah based LCSWs.

Grief Work & Suicide
Sunday, August 23 & 30
6:30 to 9pm Mountain Time
(8:30 to 11pm EST)

Offered online

Register today

This course is open to all and crafted to offer support, compassion, and a safe space for a deeper understanding of suicide. For Utah based LCSW, CEU credits are available through NASW Utah.

Our study is organized around the following key themes:

*Companioning as an approach to supporting survivors of suicide loss
*Strengthening the network of support around those who are experiencing suicidality
*Drawing upon healing rituals in the wake of suicide loss
*Confronting shame and silence around the topic of suicide
*How to assist, support, and talk with families that have endured bereavement following suicide (before, during, and after the loss)
*Understanding the biological, psychological, and cultural factors that help explain suicide
*Exploration of measures to address prevention of additional suicides and/or attempts of the bereaved, cluster suicides, understanding substance use during grief, and murder-suicides
*Trauma of suicide to frontline workers
*Self care practices for front line therapist and mental health crisis workers
*Understanding the healing power of writing (memoir and fiction) as we make sense of suicide
*Ethics related to suicide care, prevention, and self-care

Suggested supplementary (optional) reading: Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide by Kay Redfield Jamison and The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan.

All are welcome.

If you are considering suicide or self harm, please seek support now.
Learn more about the International Association for Suicide Prevention.

As a hospital chaplain, often the most difficult encounters are in response to deaths by suicide or attempted deaths by suicide. This is was true for Amy Wright Glenn, author of Holding Space. In her work as a hospital chaplain, Amy supported survivors of suicide loss as well as those who had attempted to die by suicide. The experience of holding space in these difficult and heartbreaking times was life altering.

According to the CDC, suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for people ages 10-34 in the United States. Overall, it is the 11th most common cause of death across age demographics. When we consider these statistics, the sorrow can be staggering.

How can be better understanding suicide? What are best practices to support those devastated by suicide loss? How can we hold our fears about the rising rates of suicide with compassion and courage? What can we do to support suicide prevention?

Join us this April as we bring compassionate presence to a deeper understanding of grief work & suicide.

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“This was the best training I’ve had ever. So good!”

“Thank you for speaking about grief and suicide, there needs to be more space held for this as people tend to hide from it, even therapists. We will ALL suffer loss in out lives.”

“Love the gentle way Amy invites participation and that I walked away feeling supported and received care for myself as well as ways to provide support for my clients.”

“Amy was so kind and compassionate and I really liked how her style helped us embody our own grief and all of her material was so interesting.”

” I really enjoyed the gentleness of the presenter. A topic that is so heavy can feel jarring if the presenter comes in and presents a lot of info. I also loved that Amy both modeled self awareness and care but that she also integrated it into the time. Thank you for offering a virtual option. I really wanted to attend the in person but was not able to and this allowed me to participate in the training.”

“I lost my little brother to suicide in 2023. I dreaded doing suicide prevention CE hours, and then I found this one that incorporated the experience of suicide grief/loss, and I’m so grateful. This was exactly the soft and compassionate experience I needed out of suicide CE hours, and I’m thankful for the space and everything that I learned.”

“The instructor was very good at holding space and helping us connect with ourselves and each other. It helped me stay grounded throughout especially while discussing a heavy topic.”

“I think the presenter was so lovely, and you can tell she put her whole heart into the training.”

Camille Hawkins (she/her) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice specializing in grief, trauma, and women’s issues. She began her career on the OB floor where she supported families in times of miscarriage, stillbirth, placing for adoption, and infant death. After a personal struggle with infertility and miscarriage, Camille founded the Utah Infertility Resource Center, a nonprofit organization which provides emotional support and education to thousands of families wishing and struggling to grow. In addition to supporting clients through professional counseling, Camille has spent years volunteering for local grief support organizations such as The Sharing Place and Share Parents of Utah. She is actively involved in research, advocacy endeavors, and serves on a number of community boards. In 2023, Camille launched The Wellness Farm Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit held on 2.5 acres in Bluffdale, Utah with the mission to provide support for grief and trauma and to build resiliency in the community. When Camille isn’t caring for the farm, she enjoys spending time with her husband and three living children who joined their family through open adoption and open egg donation. She became a teacher for The Institute in honor of her daughter, Everly, who came from a surprise pregnancy after nine years of infertility, and died in utero at 31 weeks gestation. Learn more here.