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Disappearing Grief

A History of Mourning In Plain Sight and Out of Sight

Dr. Kristen Dillon will trace how Western death and mourning practices have evolved over the centuries in this Zoom webinar.

She will outline the shift from communal medieval rituals and stylized Victorian public mourning to the 20th-century privatization, medicalization, and commercialization of death. Her presentation will also highlight disenfranchised grief among marginalized populations, including enslaved, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, lower-income groups, and children, while examining modern mourning in the digital age. Finally, it will offer practical strategies for everyday individuals to support people who are grieving.

Dr. Kristen Dillon is a clinical psychologist with over twelve years of experience specializing in grief, family therapy, life-limiting illness, and end of life.

After her daughter Junie's death, Kristen was struck by the difficulty of accessing resources and grief support services for herself, her other young daughter, and the rest of her family. In spite of her background in mental health, Kristen found accessing care unnavigable, and she knew others must struggle just the same. Guided by the pain of her own grief and traumatic loss, and grounded in her professional experience, Kristen founded Junie's Place - juniesplace.org - in order to support others who experience the tragic loss of a child or loss of a pregnancy.

This program is part of an on-going series "You've Been Dying to Know About..." that discusses various topics related to death and dying, created and facilitated by Andover resident, Richard Davis.

The program will be recorded and a link to the recording will be shared with everyone who registers. 

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