This lecture will address historical and contemporary ways in which youth and families coping with loss experiences from various marginalized social locations (race, ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic status, age) are faced with inequities and suffocated grief in their journey of healing. Drawing from research and case studies, it will describe socially just and culturally conscientious practices that facilitate the disruption of systemic factors that complicate grief, mourning, and coping processes for children and teens across cultural contexts (e.g., schools, hospitals).

Presenter Bio

Dr. Tashel C. Bordere is an Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Science and State Extension Specialist in Youth Development at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She has served as Board member of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC), Chair of the Multicultural Committee, and Editor of the ADEC Forum. She has specialized training as a certified thanatologist (Death, Dying, and Grief). Dr. Bordere’s research program assumes a contextual approach focusing on disenfranchising losses (homicide loss, assaultive violence – sexual assault) and Black youth bereavement, suffocated grief, and cultural practices that promote healing and survival. Dr. Bordere has done numerous workshops, consultations, keynotes, and published works relating to social and political inequities in loss including her co-edited/co-authored book, Handbook of Social Justice in Loss and Grief (Routledge). She is a Forward Promise Fellow through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focusing on the promotion of healing, growth and thriving among boys and young men of color. Dr. Bordere was recently awarded the Ronald K. Barrett Award (2018) from the Association of Death Education and Counseling for her research on Black adolescent and young adult grief. She has been featured on NPR – Teens and Grief, Hospice Foundation’s Live National Webcast – Living with Grief: Understanding the Value of Funerals for Children, and Open to Hope Cable Show – Saving At Risk Youth. She developed the S.H.E.D. Loss and Grief Tools Training.