March 28, 2024

Hospice conference to focus on grief, bereavement

There is still time to register for Mercy Hospice’s fall conference, entitled “Death, Grief and Bereavement.” Registrations for the event will be accepted through Friday.

The conference, sponsored by Mercy Hospice and Skiff Medical Center, will be from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 3 and is intended for nurses, social workers, mental health counselors, chaplains, funeral directors, hospice staff, hospice volunteers and community members. Attendance is free and includes lunch, snacks and handouts, but registration is required. The event will be held at the Iowa Speedway Newton Club, 3333 Rusty Wallace Drive.

The event’s organizers are pleased to welcome featured speaker Harold Ivan Smith, D. Min., FT.

Smith is a grief specialist who speaks annually to thousands of grievers, grief counselors and grief facilitators all around the world.

Smith is part of the teaching faculties of Saint Luke’s Hospital, Kansas City, Mo., and the Carondolet Medical Institute in Eau Claire, Wis. Smith created and facilitates Grief Gatherings, an innovative storytelling group for grievers at Saint Luke’s Hospital. He comes from a long tradition of storytellers and weaves stories into his presentation content.

At the conclusion of the conference, participants will be able to:

• Identify post-stage theories which radically change bereavement.

• Examine the nuances between complicated grief, traumatic grief, resiliency and the Teflon impact.

• Identify the anger drives that create the grief environment, the threats of anger to the griever and caregiver, and discuss strategies to diffuse.

• Identify common elements in postmortem discovery.

• Discuss ways to support grievers grappling with “Now what?”

• Strategize ways to offer ethical compassion and hospitality to individuals whose understanding of faith is different than yours.

For more information on the conference or to register, call Kerry Schiller with Mercy Hospice at 515-802-5439.