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Becoming Grief-Informed: Foundations of Grief Education
In this introductory course, Dougy Center provides essential knowledge and skills to gain understanding of the core principles of grief-informed best practices. Through engaging modules and real-world examples, learners will be provided with clear action steps to apply the principles of grief-informed best practices to their personal and professional lives.
This self-paced course can be accessed anytime (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) and completed in your own timeframe. The estimated time to complete the course is 3 hours and you can pause and resume your work at any point. When you successfully finish the course, a Certificate of Completion will be issued to you within a week.
Meet Our Grief Educators
Director of Training and Program Equity
Cristina Chipriano, LCSW-S, FT
Cristina M. Chipriano, LCSW-S, FT, has been in the field of childhood bereavement since 2015. Her work has focused on overseeing the programming for and outreach to historically marginalized children, teens and families. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the states of Oregon and Texas. She currently contributes to the National Alliance for Children’s Grief Membership Committee, and the Multnomah County Youth Suicide Prevention Coalition, among others. Her previous roles include serving as a grief professional for Sesame Street Community Grief Project, she served on the Board of Directors of the National Alliance for Children’s Grief and the Executive Board of Latino Social Workers of Greater Houston.
Senior Director of Advocacy & Education
Donna Schuurman, EdD, FT
Donna L. Schuurman, EdD, FT previously served as Dougy Center’s Executive Director from 1991–2015 and is an internationally recognized authority on grief and bereaved children, teens, and families, and the author of Never the Same: Coming to Terms with the Death of a Parent (St. Martin’s Press, 2003), co-author of The Dougy Center Model: Peer Grief Support for Children, Teens, and Families (Dougy Center, 2021), among other publications. Dr. Schuurman has worked directly with families and communities impacted by large-scale tragedies and natural disasters, including as a trainer for the FBI and National Transportation Safety Board family assistance staff. She is a national trainer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and co-authored Children, Teens, and Suicide Loss, a joint publication of AFSP and Dougy Center.
Chief Program Officer
Alysha Lacey, MA, LPC, ATR
Alysha Lacey, LPC, ATR, FT, is the Chief Program Officer at Dougy Center.
As Chief Program Officer, Alysha provides organizational oversight for Dougy Center’s expansive programming and training initiatives. She coordinates peer grief support groups for both the Bereavement program for families who have experienced a death and the Pathways program for families living with an Advanced Serious Illness, facilitates community responses after a death, and trains professionals and community members on various grief-related topics.
She has worked in the non-profit sector supporting youth and families since 2004, initially supporting families who had experienced suspected abuse or neglect.