The Covid Cataclysm – How do we Grieve for ‘Normal’?


How do we grieve for the loss of normal life and all of our hopes, plans and expectations of the future? Join our experts to discuss what many people are trying to get to grips with during the pandemic: collective grief.

Along with Julia Samuel MBE, we welcome Alex Evans and Ivor Williams of The Collective Psychology Project, the group behind This Too Shall Pass: Mourning collective loss in a time of Covid-19

Alex is a Senior Fellow at New York University, and the author of The Myth Gap: What Happens When Evidence and Arguments Aren’t Enough? Ivor is a designer who’s developing new ways of thinking about dying, death and loss. He leads the End-of-Life Care group at the Institute of Global Health Innovation within Imperial College London.

Psychotherapist Julia Samuel is a grief expert who was awarded an MBE in 2015 for her services to bereaved children. Her books include Grief Works and This Too Shall Pass. Julia says that many intense and dramatic changes in life may not actually be death, but they come with all the hallmarks of grief, such as the unprecedented change and anxiety experienced during the pandemic.

This session is led by Dr John Troyer, Director of the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath. John is co-founder of the Death Reference Desk website and the Future Cemetery Project and author of the 2020 book, Technologies of the Human Corpse.

 


Facilitators

Alex Evans, Good Grief Speaker

Alex Evans

Julia Samuel MBE

Facilitator, John Troyer

Dr John Troyer

Ivor Williams, Good Grief Speaker

Ivor Williams