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Community Education

Our Community Education programs facilitate constructive conversations in the community about serious illness, caregiving challenges, end-of-life and grief. 

CaringMatters strives to develop community knowledge and skills around serious illness, caregiving challenges, end-of-life and grief-related topics that can be applied to daily life. Our meaningful educational events and discussions help build a caring and compassionate community.

For information on Community Education, please contact

Leigh Bluestein, leighb@caringmatters.org or 301-990-7927

Thank you to our Community Education funding partner!

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Upcoming Webinar

Loss of a Lifetime: Acknowledging the Significance of Sibling Loss

Wednesday, August 20th 1:00pm - 2:30pm EDT

Presenters: Lynn Shattuck and Alyson Shelton

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Alyson and Lynn will share the commonalities they noted while editing a book of essays on sibling loss. Through personal experience and poignant passages from their book, they'll cover topics including feeling like siblings are at the bottom of the grief hierarchy, how losing a sibling can shake up our sense of identity, and that having a complicated sibling relationship can make grief complicated, too. Participants will come away from this webinar with a better understanding of the complexities of sibling grief, additional losses faced by siblings, and examples of how surviving siblings honor and nurture continuing bonds with the siblings they lost.

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Attendees will:

  • Gain insight into the unique and often overlooked experience of sibling grief.

  • Explore how sibling loss can impact identity and family dynamics.

  • Understand the added challenges of grieving a complicated sibling relationship.

  • Learn why siblings are sometimes seen as lower in the "grief hierarchy"—and how that affects their healing.

  • Discover meaningful ways surviving siblings maintain continuing bonds with the ones they’ve lost.

  • Hear personal stories and powerful excerpts from a new book of essays on sibling loss.

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Book Synopsis

The Loss of a Lifetime: Grieving Siblings Share Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope is a collection of writing from 26 authors examining sibling loss from a number of unique perspectives. These stories affirm that the death of a brother or sister is profound and life-altering loss - and that both love and grief can last a lifetime.

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Edited by Lynn L. Shattuck and Alyson Shelton
Available Now in paperback and Kindle on Amazon

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Lynn Shattuck

Lynn has been publishing essays on the topic of sibling loss for more than a decade. She was a paid columnist at Elephant Journal for ten years; several of her essays on the topic of grief and sibling loss have gone viral. Her writing has also appeared on The Huffington Post, Human Parts, Vice, The Fix and Al Jazeera. Along with her partners Alyson and Molly, Lynn co-founded the website lossofalifetime.com and co-edited the book, The Loss of a Lifetime: Grieving Siblings Share Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope. 

Instagram: @lynn_shattuck and @lossofalifetime  

Alyson Shelton

Alyson is an award-winning screenwriter and essayist. Her writing is widely published at outlets including The New York Times, Ms. and The Rumpus. She’s deeply proud of The Loss of a Lifetime: Grieving Siblings Share Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope (Contributor and Co-Editor) and the sibling loss community she co-created with Lynn Shattuck and Molly Fowkes. She’s best known for her Instagram Live series inspired by George Ella Lyon’s poem, Where I’m From where she’s hosted close to 200 writers. Instagram: @byalysonshelton

Past Community Education Presentations Include:

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  • Webinar: Beyond Facetime: Video Options for Staying Connected with Loved Ones

  • Webinar: Grief Allies: A Practical Guide for Friends, Family, Colleagues, & Neighbors of Grieving People

  • Webinar: Disaster Preparedness: Simple Steps for Senior Adults, Individuals with Serious Illness, & Caregivers

  • Webinar: Mortality in Popular Culture

  • Webinar: Death Cleaning & Decluttering: Why It Matters & How To Do It

  • Webinar: Live Well to Die Well

  • Webinar: Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: Extending Compassion and Whole Person Healing

  • Webinar: Cognitive Change: Understanding, Connecting, and Creating Moments of Joy 

  • Webinar - Prepare for the Inevitable: Financial Planning to Prepare for the Death of a Family Member

  • Webinar - Seniors and Social Isolation

  • Webinar - Suffocated Grief and Black Youth Coping with Loss

  • Webinar - How to Support Grieving People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

  • Webinar - Caregiver Stress in Asian American Communities

  • Webinar - Providing Inclusive and Affirming Care for the LGBTQ+ Community

  • Webinar - Caring for the Caregiver

  • Webinar - The End-of-Life Doulas: A Collaborative Approach to End-of-Life Care

  • Webinar - Grief Support for the Black Community: Understanding the Culture of Trauma and Developing an Empathy-Driven Mindset

  • Webinar: Grief: Support for Yourself and Those You Care About

  • Webinar - Grief in the Workplace: Guidance for Employees and Employers

  • Webinar - ​Voice Your Choice: Preparing for Health Care Emergencies

  • Webinar - Speaking Grief Film Discussion

  • Webinar - LGBTQ+ Seriously Ill Seniors: Opportunities for Better Care

  • Webinar - Grief and Self-Care in the Time of COVID-19

  • Webinar - Supporting Grieving Students After a Death: How We Can Help Them Build Resilience in a Time of Physical Distancing

  • Navigating Transitions for Your Loved One's Care

  • Nine To Ninety Film Screening & Discussion

  • Caregivers' Toolkit: Community Resources for Patients & Families Facing Serious Illness

  • Voices of Grief Film Screening & Discussion

  • Managing Grief in the Age of 24-Hour News & Social Media

CaringMatters

518 S. Frederick Ave.

Gaithersburg, MD 20877

301-869-HOPE (4673)
301-990-4909 (fax)

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CaringMatters is a 501(c)(3) non-profi­t organization registered with the State of Maryland, and our EIN is 52-1591455. A copy of our current ­financial statement is available by contacting CaringMatters, Inc. at 518 South Frederick Avenue, Gaithersburg, MD 20877 or at 301-869-4673. Documents and information submitted to the State of Maryland Charitable Solicitations Act are available from the Office of the Secretary.

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