NAVIGATING THROUGH GRIEF: A HEALING JOURNEY
Saturday, June 8 from 8:30am - 1pm
Presented by Hospice of the Piedmont and Unity of Charlottesville
With Rev. Patricia Gulino Lansky, LSCW, Geoff Barkley, LCSW, PhD, Beh Eck, PhD, Kate Tamarkin, and the Staff of Hospice of the Piedmont
Compassionate Grieving: Living Into Greater Life
With Rev. Patricia Gulino Lansky, LCSW
People everywhere are living through tumultuous changes, experiencing all levels of loss; from the personal loss of loved ones, to a variety of traumas ranging from sudden loss, violence, the global pandemic, and natural disasters. We are deeply impacted individually and collectively by these losses. Yet, grief remains largely unaddressed as one of our most misunderstood and difficult emotions.
In this powerful seminar, author, teacher, licensed clinical social worker, and Unity minister, Patricia Gulino Lansky, will offer experiential methods for healing your own grief. You’ll receive resources for current and future losses, as well as tools to use during special holidays and anniversaries of loss, when feelings of unconfronted grief can resurface. Through her personal story, Patricia will reveal how it is possible to move through grief by opening the heart to unconditional love and compassion for yourself and others, lifting you out of despair into peace and freedom.
ABOUT REV. PATRICIA GULINO LANSKY
Patricia Gulino Lansky is an engaging teacher, workshop and meditation retreat facilitator, inspirational speaker, and author of Accepting Death, Embracing Life: How Death Teaches Us to Live. She is a licensed clinical social worker and an ordained Unity minister. For nearly forty years, Patricia’s professional role as both a therapist in private practice and a minister have given her the privilege of empowering others to move gracefully through their life transitions, including the death and dying process. Patricia retired as the co-minister of Unity of Charlottesville, VA in 2021 after twenty years of service. She is an ordained Unity minister, and has a Masters Degree in Social Work, Masters Degree in Theater, and Masters of Fine Arts in Acting.
Natural Grief
With Geoff Barkley, LSCW, PhD
Grief occurs to everyone at various times. Through aging, chronic illness, the death of a loved one, or for other reasons, we deeply mourn these losses. Grief is inevitable, suffering is not. Everyone grieves differently, yet there’s a recognition that for certain people the intensity, frequency and duration of their grieving indicates they’re stuck, unable to move past their loss.
This session explores the concept of natural grief through mindfulness, the nonjudgmental observation of thoughts and emotions, and its vital role in moving through grief. Participants will have the opportunity to practice two mindfulness exercises to gain practical understanding on how to prevent unnecessary distress and promote healing.
ABOUT GEOFF BARKLEY
During his forty years in social work, Geoff supported patients and their families through grief and end-of-life passages in nursing facilities, burn, trauma, stroke and cancer hospital units. For the past 5 years, he has counseled seniors on end-of-life issues through UVa’s Continuum Home Health. Geoff currently runs the Mukta Center for Yoga and has taught yoga and meditation for many years. He’s found these principles and practices helpful assisting others through life’s many challenges.
Opening Conversations with Beth Eck, PhD
There are many emotions that accompany our navigation of grief – sadness, anger, relief, guilt
are just a few. Though all of us experience loss, we often do so as individuals in a culture that
seems to have no language, ritual or community to help us. We will enter the day dipping into
these conversations with some help from the skilled facilitation of End-of-Life Doulas from
Hospice of the Piedmont. Death Doulas mirror the non-medical practice of birth doulas,
accompanying people through every stage of at the other end of life. These small(er) group
conversations are modeled on HOP’s tried and true “Death over Drafts” community outreach
service.
ABOUT BETH ECK
Beth Eck, is a practicing death doula and the Director of End-of-Life Doula Services at Hospice
of the Piedmont in Charlottesville, VA. Beth was hired to develop an in-house death doula
training program in August 2021 and did her own training with the International End-of-Life
Doula Association (INELDA) and Going with Grace. She is National End-of-Life Doula
Alliance (NEDA) proficient and was a member of the NHPCO’s End-of-Life Doula Council
2022-2023. She earned her PhD in 1996 from the University of Virginia and is an Emeritus
Professor of Sociology at James Madison University (Harrisonburg, VA) where she taught for 25 years, most recently in the area of death and dying.
Music Provided by Kate Tamarkin
Kate has a deep interest in the use of music to promote healing. She is certified through the Music for Healing and Transition Program and plays Celtic harp as a Musician in Residence at the UVA Medical Center. She is also the Program Coordinator for the Music by the Bedside Program at Hospice of the Piedmont. The clinical program assigns trained music practictioners to play at the bedside of hospice patients at every stage of their journey. Kate is well known for a long professional career as a conductor and teacher of conducting.
Admission is $20 (no one turned away). Please register early so that we know how many resources to provide.
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Unity of Charlottesville