While grief is a natural process, it can feel disorienting and overpowering. In the words of Robert Lowell, grief is seeing and feeling “with one skin-layer missing.” When we grieve, we are not simply grieving the loss of someone or something meaningful, we are also grieving the loss of the narrative by which we have lived our lives. In this course, you will explore the work of grief, some spiritual and theological implications of this work, and what it means to offer trauma-informed grief care.

Part I: The Work of Grief: Old Theories and New Insights

Part II: ".... and when I die": Grief and End-of-Life considerations

Part III: Trauma-informed Spiritual Care: Theological/Spiritual Implications

Facilitated by Rev. Dr. Julie Strassmann 

Rev. Dr. Julie Strassman, D.Min. is the Manager of Support Services with Bethesda Hospice Care, specializing in spiritual care and grief care. She received her Doctorate of Ministry in 2022 and wrote her dissertation on providing spiritual care to the bereaved. Julie is an adjunct professor at Eden Theological Seminary, having most recently co-taught “Death, Grief, and Dying” with Dr. Kristen Leslie. She is currently working to launch the new End-of-Life Doula Certificate Program at Eden and is a frequent academic speaker, having most recently presented for the Missouri League of Nursing, the Missouri Association for Assisted Living, and the Midwest Regional Conference on Palliative & End of Life Care.

 

Digital content by Rev. Kristen J. Leslie, Ph.D.

Dr. Leslie is a feminist pastoral theologian whose research focuses on spiritual care with survivors of sexualized violence in the United States military, on college campuses, and in post-genocide Rwanda. An ordained United Methodist minister, she has served as a parish pastor, college chaplain, pastoral counselor, rape counselor, and seminary professor. She has taught pastoral care and counseling for 27 years, recently retiring from her post as the Harold Peters Schultz Professor of Pastoral Theology and Care at Eden Theological Seminary.

Dates: 6;7:30pm CT, May 19, June 16, July 21, Aug. 18, 2025

all cohort meetings will be online

Ministry Cohorts

Ministry Cohorts allow you to sample many theological themes, offering peer learning with your ministry context in mind. Scholars have chosen a specific lens on a particular topic and share their expertise through digital content you watch on your own time. Four monthly online meetings are interspersed, where you and your Cohort members gather for facilitated discussion with an experienced church leader.

Cohorts support lifelong learning and are for anyone- authorized clergy, chaplains, Christian educators, lay leaders and anyone interested in the topic. UCC members will recognize the Mark for Ministry woven throughout the cohorts, though anyone from any denomination, or no denomination, is welcome to attend.

Completion of this Ministry Cohort provides 9 contact hours of continuing education, subject to approval by the participant's credentialing body.