I was proud to be part of the inaugural National Grief Awareness Day Professional Development Conference organized by On Tuesdays We Wear Black. The event provided grief training for business professionals. I presented How to Human: Normalizing and Navigating Grief in the Workplace:

We don’t leave our humanity at the door when we go to work. That means that when we experience a major life event like a death, divorce/breakup, illness or injury, it will impact how we show up for our job and how we navigate our workplace relationships. Because all of those events can involve a grief response. Moreover, grief can be present in “good” things, too. Weddings, having/adopting children, retirements—all of these milestones involve change. And, when you get down to it, grief is about adapting to change. In this session, we’ll explore what grief is (and isn’t) and discuss strategies for responding to grieving coworkers with compassion and competence.