Dancing in the Darkness: Creative approaches to working with grieving children and youth

 Mental Health Education and Training for Professionals

Dancing in the Darkness: Creative approaches to working with grieving children and youth
Date: May 10, 2019
Facilitators: Andrea Warnick, RN, MA, and Lysa Toye, MSW, RSW.
This training is suitable for: Front-line workers and volunteers, medical professionals, educators, clergy, social workers, administrators, residential workers, counsellors, funeral service providers and hospice volunteers. Any professional who is in a position to support/influence a grieving child or youth.

The emphasis in this workshop will be on supporting participants who already have a theoretical foundation in children's grief and bereavement to build their toolkit and confidence in creatively engaging with children and youth who are grieving a death. Many easy to use (and modify) creative techniques in working with grieving children and youth will be shared, and participants will have the opportunity to engage in safe, experiential activities to better understand the process of using creative approaches.

Learning Objectives:

• Creative approaches to supporting children and youth who are grieving the dying or death of someone in their life.
• Art and play based strategies to add to the tool box of participants who already have a theoretical foundation in children’s grief and bereavement.
• Strategies for supporting grieving children and youth in schools.

This is Learning Module 5 of the 2019 Certificate Program in Children's Grief and Bereavement. This module may be taken separately from the certificate program as a stand-alone workshop.

Andrea Warnick, RN., MA

Andrea is an educator, grief counsellor, nurse, and thanatologist with 20 years of experience in providing grief support and education. Her passions lie both in working directly with families experiencing the dying or death of someone close to them and in teaching others how to optimize their care of the dying and bereaved, particularly when children are involved. Recognizing the provision of support for grieving children and youth as a social justice issue, Andrea brings the topics of dying, death, and grief into the necessary realm of discussion, education, and advocacy. Andrea runs her own education and counselling practice in Toronto, Andrea Warnick Consulting.

Lysa Toye, Dip EXAT, MSW, RSW

Lysa Toye is a masters-trained social worker and an expressive arts therapist. She is currently employed at the Hospital for Sick Children in their burn program, as a grief counsellor with children, youth and their families at the Max and Beatrice Wolfe Children’s Centre, Dr. Jay children’s grief program, and she has a small private psychotherapy practice working primarily with adults living with grief and trauma. She is interested in the power of mindful creativity, art, ritual, and the natural world to ground and awaken us to the full experience of being human.