Working with Grief and Loss:
A Multidisciplinary Perspective

Grief can extend far beyond the death of a loved one. Throughout our lives, we experience changes in identity, relationships, health, roles, and dreams that can profoundly shape emotional well-being. This continuing education panel explores both the "little deaths" of life and the profound impact of physical death and bereavement.

Led by Christy Darcangelo, LCSW, participants will gain insight into understanding and supporting clients through the many forms grief can take. This panel will also feature a Chicago Funeral Director and practicing Death Doulas, who will share their unique perspectives on end-of-life care, community resources, and ways clinicians can better support individuals and families. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of grief as a universal human experience and practical tools for integrating compassionate, interdisciplinary approaches into their clinical work.

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About The Panelists: 

Christy Darcangelo, MA, LCSW is an independent psychotherapist meeting individuals, relationships, and families with marginalized identities wherever they are in their healing process. Strengthened by her training in aging studies, Christy’s grief work spans the lifecycle. From working with pregnancy and child loss to caring for dying parents to facing terminal illness, Christy blends relational, existential, and somatic approaches to help clients process pain and loss, and reclaim the peace and pleasure that is their inheritance.
 

Brooke Benjamin is a Chicago-born Funeral Director and Celebrant with twenty-five years of experience. Her offerings include burials, funerals, cremations, celebrations of lives, pet services, dispositions, merchandise, and direction of services with plenty of green options. Beyond disposition of human remains, she believes that the law, spiritual/religious imperatives, and the path a family chooses should promote, rather than preclude, healing and also promote an individual’s memory. If we can help bridge the gap between humanity and the divine, fantastic. She believes when we talk about death, we talk about life.

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Erica Reid Gerdes of Waxwing Journeys is a NEDA Proficient death and transition doula working in the Chicagoland area. Her specialties include cancer support, active end-of-life guidance, pre-planning and post-death support, memorials and rituals, and legacy work for all who live and die. She loves facilitating and having conversations about all things end-of-life, encouraging people to pursue deathwork, and educating the public about death care options.

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Tiffany Noelle Johnson is an end of life doula, educator, and funeral celebrant. She is the founder of We Too Shall Pass, an end of life planning and doula practice, and co-founder of Wally’s Hearth, a nonprofit working to establish Illinois’ first social model hospice home—a home-like setting that complements hospice care by providing compassionate, nonmedical support for individuals and families.

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Tiffany works with individuals, families, healthcare providers, and community organizations to foster more open conversations about death, grief, and caregiving. Her presentations combine practical guidance with lived experience, encouraging professionals to recognize grief not only after a death, but throughout the many losses that accompany serious illness, caregiving, and life’s transitions.

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