Reimagining Grief Support Through a Sociocultural Lens June 18, 2026 | 6:00 pm -7:30 pm (Arizona Time)
Grief does not live in a vacuum. It’s shaped by culture, community, history, faith, family roles, and the realities of caregiving, especially when people carry layered losses and navigate systems that don’t always make room for their truth. In this interactive session, Dr. Siobhan Aaron and Dr. Laura Bradbury will explore how grief manifests across sociocultural contexts, what often gets missed when support is “one-size-fits-all,” and why culturally responsive approaches can increase relevance, safety, and trust.
Participants will leave with a plain-language understanding of prolonged grief, a brief lens for differentiating grief from depression/anxiety/trauma, and practical ways to support individuals and families. We’ll cover what helps (and what can unintentionally harm), including language to use and avoid, connection and meaning-making, rituals, and community-based support pathways, with time for audience Q&A.
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Our Presenters
Siobhan Aaron, PhD, MBA, RN, FNP-BC
Siobhan Aaron, PhD, MBA, RN, FNP-BC is an inpatient palliative care nurse practitioner and Assistant Professor at Case Western Reserve University’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing. Her work lives at the intersection of serious illness, caregiving, and grief, with a focus on ensuring people feel seen and supported not only in loss but also in the long stretch of love and labor that often comes before it.
Through her clinical practice, Dr. Aaron has witnessed how grief can show up quietly, loudly, or not at all, especially when families are carrying the weight of multiple losses, limited support, and a healthcare system that does not always make space for cultural truth. That reality has shaped her commitment to developing culturally tailored, patient- and family-centered grief support that is both evidence-informed and deeply responsive to lived experience.
Dr. Aaron’s research includes adapting and testing Prolonged Grief Group Therapy to honor cultural strengths, real-world barriers, and the needs of people navigating complex caregiving journeys. Her goal is to help communities access grief care that feels emotionally safe, practically useful, and genuinely relevant.
Beyond research and clinical care, she serves as Chair of the Ohio Department of Health Palliative Care and Quality of Life Interdisciplinary Council, working to strengthen palliative care access and family support across Ohio.
Laura Bradbury, LCSW, PhD
Laura Bradbury, LCSW, PhD, is a clinical social worker, researcher, and educator whose work specializes in grief and loss, family caregivers' well-being, and promoting grief literacy. She is an Assistant Professor (Clinical) at the University of Utah College of Nursing. She is also the director of Caring Connections: A Hope and Comfort in Grief Program. Through Caring Connections, Laura directs grief support, community education, and grief literacy initiatives.
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