Honoring and Supporting Grief and Loss in the Lives of People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and their Families
Presented by Bill Gaventa
March 16, 2023~ 12pm – 1:30pm Central Time
Overview
For a long time, grief and loss in the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism, was essentially ignored and disenfranchised, often because of assumptions about levels of understanding or because the focus was on the grief of families. Yet they live in a world of relationships in which grief and loss are often ubiquitous. This webinar will address some of that history as well as rapidly growing resources for supporting grief and loss, including new initiatives focused on people with autism, their friends and families, caregivers, and professional helpers.
During the webinar we will look at particular ways that chaplains may encounter and address grief and loss in hospital settings with patients with disabilities and support their supporters, i.e., family members, clergy, direct care staff and friends. The webinar will include time for questions and stories from participants’ pastoral experiences. Participants are encouraged to explore a new resource web site, www.autismandgrief.org beforehand.
NACC Certification Competencies Addressed in this Webinar
PIC4, PIC5, PPS2, PPS3, PPS5, PPS6
Presenter Information
Bill Gaventa is an author, speaker, trainer, and consultant primarily in the arena of faith and disability. He is the founder and Director Emeritus of the Summer Institute of Theology and Disability and the current Director of the National Collaborative on Faith and Disability. He was the Director of Community and Congregational Supports at the Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities in New Jersey from 1995-2013. Primary areas of experience and expertise include spiritual and faith-based supports with people with disabilities, training for clergy, seminarians and community services staff, aging and end of life/grief issues in intellectual and developmental disabilities, cultural competence, and community building. He served as the President of American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2016-2017. He was Editor of the Journal of Religion, Disability and Health for 14 years, and is author of Spirituality and Disability: Recovering Wholeness published by Baylor University Press in 2018.
