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Grief and Loss Education Collaborative
900 23rd Street, NW, Suite 6168
Washington, DC  20037

Site Description
The Grief and Loss Education Collaborative is a coalition of individuals and organizations that provide resources and support to adults and children coping with grief and loss issues.

The current needs of the GW medical community will be identified by the members of the ISCOPES group, as each of us are members of this community.  In prior teams’ consultation with their advisors, we realized the need for discussion and education around the grief process and coping with loss; we recognized how important and valuable these types of presentations could be for members of the medical community, both personally and professionally.

Expectations of Team Members
Students will: explore their own coping styles as well as learn how to recognize those of others; improve their communication skills, talk about how to anticipate reactions, etc. They will have readings and attend team meetings...they will need to talk with students and faculty in their specific departments about the challenges they see confronting grief and loss issues within the context of the lecture topic (i.e. the needs of returning service men and women).

Anticipated Project(s)
One anticipated project is to continue the lecture series for the GW community on Grief issues (more accurately, transition issues). Some possible topics for the lecture this year could be: supporting veterans, children and loss, aging and loss, and faith communities responding to loss. The team would decide which topic would be most beneficial.

Our project would be a continuation of past projects. The team needs to meet at least once a month for 1.5 hours and meet with people in the community serving the chosen topic area to gather information/assess needs. In addition, team members would meet with various departments within the medical center to create a presentation that would be beneficial to the students/faculty in that department. Then, based on this information, the team will create a marketing strategy, facilitate the lecture, participate in the event, and evaluate the program overall.

Prepare a community resource listing and materials. 

Other next steps identified by the 2006-07 team include creating a resource binder for future ISCOPES Grief and Loss teams, and establishing the Grief and Loss Collaborative as a resource for other ISCOPES groups who may deal with these types of issues. 

Past Projects
Two presentations to GW community on grief issues; one panel discussion, one presentation by Tom Golden. Each event focused on a particular aspect of grief; the panel looked at a broad range of the ways grief touches our lives (type of loss, different cultural responses) and Tom Golden spoke about how Men cope with grief.

Additional Information (coming soon)