Supporting Children and Families Impacted by Murder

Grieving children and families who have been impacted by murder have unique needs and experiences. This workshop will provide participants with tools and resources for supporting children and families impacted by a homicide death. Presenters will discuss the importance of supporting children and families impacted by homicide through a lens of inclusivity, cultural awareness, and sensitivity.

Opportunities, challenges, and barriers related to providing quality bereavement services to children and families impacted by murder will be explored and discussed. Case examples and vignettes will be...Read more utilized to illustrate concepts and best practices for supporting children and families after a homicide death. Less...

Learning Objectives

Identify 3 unique needs and experiences of bereaved children and families impacted by murder.
Describe resources to strengthen work with bereaved children and families who have been impacted by homicide.
Discuss strategies for overcoming barriers and creating authentic partnerships with individuals and communities impacted by violent and stigmatized death.

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Live Interactive Webinar

02:00 PM EDT - 03:30 PM EDT

EARN 1.5 CE Credit Hours

About the speakers

Colleen Shannon, LICSW

associate program director at The Children’s Room

Colleen Shannon, MSW, LICSW is a clinical social worker with over 15 years of experience working with children, adolescents and adults coping with grief, loss and bereavement. She has worked with grieving children and families in hospital, communitybased and bereavement camp settings. Colleen is the Associate Program Director at The Children’s Room in Arlington, MA where she developed and now oversees the center’s Teen, School and Community-Based programs. She presents locally and nationally on topics pertaining to childhood bereavement. In addition to her work at The Children’s Room, Colleen is a consultant and group facilitator at Project Common Bond, a rogram that brings together young adults, ages 15-20, from around the world who share a ‘common bond’ — the loss of a family member due to an act of terrorism, violent extremism, or war. She is a faculty member in the postgraduate palliative care program at the School of Social Work at Smith College and works as a psychotherapist in private practice in Beverly, MA where she specializes in working children, adolescents and adults who have experienced parental and sibling bereavement, young adults coping with grief and families experiencing significant losses and life transitions.

Lawrence J. Stevenson

Survivors Outreach Services Advocate - Louis D. Brown Peace Institute

Lawrence Stevenson is a Survivors Outreach Services Advocate at the Louis D. Brown Peace
Institute. Just days after a homicide, he meets with families to provide emotional and practical
support and is prepared to walk with them through their journey from crisis to healing to
thriving. Lawrence believes people have an incredible ability to heal. He sees it as his role not to
heal others, but to create a safe space in which people can heal themselves. Lawrence
particularly appreciates facilitating Peace Play in Urban Settings as he supports survivors in the
process of constructing worlds out of sand and figurines. In 2015, he received a B.S. in
Psychology and Public Services from the Commonwealth Honors at the University of
Massachusetts Amherst. In addition to the work he does at the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute,
he is also a trained Diversity, Equity and Inclusion consultant with VISIONS INC. Power to the
People.

Alexandra Chery

Director of Programs and Training - Louis D. Brown Peace Institute

Alexandra Chery Dorrelus is Director of Programs and Training. She oversees the work of the
Peace Institute and ensures the organization’s programs have what they need in order to provide
well coordinated services. Alexandra learned at 4 years old, when her brother was killed, the pain
felt after someone you love is murdered is unique to other types of pain. In order to support a
person and family through that pain, their unique and individual needs must be acknowledged
and met. Alexandra has been in the field of human services since she was 16 and started her
work as a youth organizer with the Breath of Life Dorchester (BOLD) Teens advocating for
social and environmental justice. She worked her way into Program Coordinator of the BOLD
Teens and managed the Codman Square Farmers Market. Alexandra holds many awards from her
community organizing and human services work, including the Hidden Heroes Award.
Upholding the legacy of her brother, Louis and the love for her family is what drives her work
everyday.

Elaina DeStefano

Strategic Projects Coordinator - Louis D. Brown Peace Institute

Elaina was first introduced to the Peace Institute while studying for her Masters of Social Work.
She interned for two years at the Peace Institute working in advocacy roles as well as
implementing the Social Emotional Learning Curriculum (PeaceZone) in the Boston Public
Schools system. What has kept Elaina in this work is the belief that families that are impacted on
both sides of homicide deserve to be treated with dignity and compassion, regardless of the
circumstances. Elaina has experience with implementing programming and supporting nonprofits
in creating a process to measure and evaluate their programming and overall mission. After
moving to India, where she worked for an NGO measuring the restoration of survivors of forced
labor, she was thrilled to be able to take what she learned and be a part of the team at the Peace
Institute. As the Strategic Program Coordinator, Elaina aims to evaluate, measure and monitor
the programs at the Peace Institute to make sure they are serving Survivors of Homicide Victims
with the highest level of coordination, consistency and compassion.
1

CE Information - Earn 1.5 CE Credit Hours

CE Approvals

American Psychological Association

CE Learning Systems, LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. CE Learning Systems maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

National Board for Certified Counselors

CE Learning Systems and National Alliance for Children’s Grief are cosponsors of this program. The cosponsorship has been approved by NBCC. CE Learning Systems is an NBCC Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 5951. The ACEP solely is responsible for this program, including the awarding of NBCC credit.

New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work

CE Learning Systems SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0060.

Texas Board of Social Work Examiners

CE-Go, a service of CE Learning Systems, is approved to offer continuing education courses by the Texas State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#6460). CE Learning Systems maintains responsibility for the courses.

New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology

CE Learning Systems dba CE-Credit.com & AddictionCounselorCE.com is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0016.

CE Process Info

Each professional is responsible for the individual requirements as stipulated by his/her licensing agency. Please contact your individual licensing board/regulatory agency to review continuing education requirements for licensure renewal. Please note: You must attend "live" (in real-time) to earn CE credits.

Before the event, you will receive an email from CE-Go with access to the virtual event. After the event, you will receive access to your evaluation and continuing education certificate via a personalized "attendee dashboard" link, hosted on the CE-Go website. This link and access to the virtual event will be sent to the email account you used to register for the event.

Upon accessing the CE-Go "attendee dashboard", you will be able to:

Complete evaluation forms for the event
Download your continuing education certificate in a PDF format

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the CE-Go process, please contact CE-Go at 888-498-5578 or by email at support@ce-go.com Please Note: Emails for this event will come from "support@ce-go.com".

Please make sure to check your spam/junk folder in case those emails get "stuck". We'd also suggest "whitelisting" support@ce-go.com. This tells your email client that you know this sender and trust them, which will keep emails from this contact at the top of your inbox and out of the junk folder.