With the current political climate and the deepening divisions and polarization that accompany it, people often talk about grief that originates in social and political structures but is felt in a profoundly personal way.  Sociopolitical grief includes the direct losses that are experienced by individuals as a result of political policies, ideologies, and oppression enacted and/or empowered at the sociopolitical levels.  Racially and ethnically marginalized populations are challenged by the persistent pain and suffering that occur as a result of ongoing inequity, racism, and divisive ideologies on power maintenance and resistance to oppression.  In this module, the concept of sociopolitical grief will be explored from many different perspectives, along with approaches to better understand the personal and collective impact of losses that originate at the structural level.  Learners will have the opportunity to explore their own experiences of sociopolitical grief and find approaches that may help to address these issues from diverse perspectives, including compassionate perspectives and positions of radical self and community care directed towards the pain and moral injury that are unique to this form of grief. 

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Define and describe sociopolitical grief and its implications for different populations;

• Explain intersectionality, power, and systemic oppression in relation to nonfinite loss, cultural trauma, suffocated grief and sociopolitical grief;

• Delineate systemic and individual shifts and actions essential to healing amid suffocated grief and sociopolitical grief; and

• Identify constructive ways to approach sociopolitical grief at both the personal and broader structural levels.

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Note:  Completion of this module and return of the Responsive Journal satisfies 1 Orientation Module required for Certification in Grief Therapy for Non-Death Losses.

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PROGRAM CONTENT

This program contains the following video segments:

1. The Social Context of Loss:  When the Political is Personal (45 mins)

2. Popularism and the Costs of Othering:  Seeking Compassion and a Common Ground (41 mins)

3. Privilege, Power and Oppression:  Sociopolitical Grief from the Margins (36 mins)

4. Suffocated Grief in the Black Community:  Resistance and Resilience (43 mins)

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COURSE PACK CONTAINS...

• A PDF copy of the presentation slides;

• Glossary of terms and guidelines for culturally responsive language;

• The Five A’s of Culturally Conscientious Practice; and

• The Responsive Journal that, upon completion and return, confers 1 credit of Orientation Module leading to Certification in Grief Therapy for Non-Death Losses.