INTERNATIONAL DEATH, GRIEF, AND BEREAVEMENT CONFERENCE
A page within INTERNATIONAL DEATH, GRIEF, AND BEREAVEMENT CONFERENCE
Loneliness in Grief: Exploring the Silent Struggle & Path to Connection
Pre-conference: May 31, 2026
Conference: June 1–3, 2026
STUDENT UNION
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse | 521 East Avenue N | La Crosse, WI USA
Who should attend
Behavioral Health Professionals • Case Managers • Clergy • Counselors • Educators • Funeral Directors • Healthcare Professionals • Hospice Providers • Palliative Care Providers • Program Directors • Social Workers
How you will benefit:
• Share in intimate and transformative educational experiences.
• Foster new relationships and connections to stay with you through your career.
• Gain insight and grow to new levels both personally and professionally.
Across sessions, we examine loneliness not only as a pain to be alleviated, but as a profoundly human terrain that can deepen meaning, reshape identity, and open pathways to connection. We honor grief’s silence while building bridges toward belonging and hope.
• Redefining Loneliness & Aloneness — exploring the difference between solitude and loneliness; reframing isolation as a space for meaning-making, reflection, and transformation in grief.
• Identity, Marginalization & Invisible Grief — how loneliness is intensified in marginalized groups (cultural, racial, gendered, neurodivergent, unhoused, expatriate, widowed, caregiving populations) and the impact of systemic barriers and stigma.
• Masculinity, Silence & Cultural Expectations — the hidden grief of men and fathers, stoicism, emotional suppression, and the tension between vulnerability and control.
• Developmental & Relational Dimensions of Loneliness — loneliness across the lifespan (emerging adulthood, midlife, aging elders, caregivers); grieving alone vs. grieving with others; rebuilding intimacy after loss.
• Connection, Companioning & Community Support Models — pathways from isolation to connection, including relational care approaches, peer support, and meaning-focused grief therapy.
• Innovation & Creative Healing Approaches — expressive arts, body-based practices, technology and AI, meditation, and alternative care models as tools to address bereavement loneliness."
NBCC
NBCC Approved Continuing Education ProviderUniversity of Wisconsin-La Crosse Graduate & Extended Learning has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider™, ACEP No. 6303. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Graduate & Extended Learning is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
Planning Committee
• Gerry Cox, Ph.D., UW-La Crosse, Emeritus
• Dan Festa, Ph.D., Pastor
• Debra Joy Hart, RN, Grief Coach, Author
• Laurel Elizabeth Hilliker, Ph.D., FT, Sociologist
• Karen McGarvey, UW-La Crosse
• Amber Miller-Adamany, UW-La Crosse
• Laura E. Roach, LPC, NCC, BC-TMH
• Erica Srinivasan, Ph.D., UW-La Crosse (credentialing)
• Andrew Vitale, CT, Author
