Grief and Loss Education Collaborative
900 23rd Street, NW, Suite 6168
Washington, DC  20037
http://www.taps.org/

Anticipated Project(s): Providing Resources and Hope to Military Families
The 2009-10 ISCOPES Grief and Loss Education Collaborative team will provide educational opportunities on the topics of grief, loss, death and dying to the university community through the sponsorship of panel discussions, and viewing of relevant film/brown bag lunches i.e end-of-life decision making, issues around trauma, supporting someone who is grieving etc. Team members will have opportunities for service learning experiences and site visits within the metropolitan community.

Team members may also choose to assist Tragedy Assistance Programs for Survivors (TAPS) to offer support to military families who have lost a loved one while on active duty in the Armed Forces.

Expectations of Team Members:
Students will attend bi-monthly team meetings on Tuesdays from 8:00am-10:00am during the fall semester and monthly meetings during this same time in the spring semester. Students will also be expected to attend and participate in the educational programs provided by the team to the GWU community.

Past Projects:
In 2008-09, the Grief and Loss Education Collaborative team continued to provide education for the GWUMC community through brown bag lunches, movie screenings and discussions. Additionally, the team worked with the bereavement organization, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS). The team researched and prepared lists of local bereavement resources for individuals and families who had lost a loved one on active duty with the Armed Forces and offered these resources to bereaved individual and families.

In 2007-08, the team continued the lecture series for the GW community on Grief issues (more accurately, transition issues), as well as provided a weekly brown-bag lunch movie series.

In 2006-07, the team provided two presentations to the 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.

Site Descriptions:
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.