Upcoming Events
Conference: From Freud to Neuroscience: How We Understand Loss and Grief
November 4, 2026
King’s University College
Celebrating 50 years of death education at King’s
Hybrid Conference: Sport, Grief, and the Body
May 13-14, 2027
King’s University College & Online
From recreational to professional athletics, sport can form a core part of one’s identity and routine as well as their sense of belonging, health, and connection. As sport plays an important role in the lives of many, it is perhaps unsurprising that athletes face significant turmoil when they are no longer able to participate due to injury, aging, or unexpected events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. While the ending of a sport career may be recognized as disappointing, it may not necessarily be understood as a significant loss liable to provoke a grief response. Grief arises not only as a result of death-related losses but can be felt following a variety of non-death losses including injury, major illness, the dissolution of a relationship, or the end of a career. While death losses are often understood as significant and life-changing, non-death losses are frequently overlooked, invalidated, or fail to be socially supported.
This conference will explore the interconnections between sport and grief with the aim of validating the grief experiences of athletes and developing better ways to support athletes through life transition and loss.
This event will be held in a hybrid format, both in person at King’s University College located in London, Ontario and online via Zoom. The event is being organized in collaboration between the Department of Sociology, Criminology, and Thanatology and the School of Social Work at King’s. We welcome expressions of interest from academics, practitioners, coaches, athletes, and students in the form of paper presentations, panels, roundtables, workshops, creative works, and book talks.
Key areas of interest in relation to sport, grief, and loss include (but are not limited to):
Injury
Aging out of sport
Failure
Unmet expectations
Retirement
Benching
COVID-19 and impacts
Collective, social, or political dimensions of grief related to sport
If you are interested in participating, please email Lisa McLean (Associate Professor, Thanatology: lmclea43@uwo.ca) with a title and short blurb of approximately 200-300 words by October 31, 2026.
Past Events
Centre for Innovation in Campus Mental Health Webinar:
Non-Death Loss in the Campus Environment: Understanding Grief and Loss Among Students, Staff, and Faculty
September 25, 2025 - 10:30am - 12:00pm
Speakers: Dr. Lisa McLean & Dr. Adrienne Sauder
Host: Centre for Innovation in Campus Mental Health
Universities and colleges across the country are grappling with economic crises that are provoking uncertainty, grief, and loss among staff and faculty. At the same time, students look to staff and faculty for support when coping with unmet expectations, (fears of) academic failure, and the grief associated with other losses and transitions. In this webinar, we will be joined by Dr. Lisa McLean and Dr. Adrienne Sauder from the Grief and Loss Research Lab (Loss Lab) at King’s University College to discuss how non-death losses may provoke grief, and suggestions for how we may collectively support one another when facing difficult life transitions.
French closed captioning will be provided.
Exploring Grief, Loss, and Resiliency in Our Community and on Campus: A Grief Literacy Symposium and Photovoice Exhibit
September 19, 2024
King’s University College
This event is supported by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, King's University College, the Department of Thanatology at King's, and the South London Neighbourhood Resource Centre.
While grief is a natural part of life, it is also frequently misunderstood, minimized, or pathologized as a mental health concern. Grief literacy refers to the values, knowledge, and skills needed to adequately support those grieving a variety of forms of loss, from death-related loss to non-death losses associated with the effects of social injustice and the loss of health and wellbeing (Breen et al., 2022).
The Loss Lab is hosting a one-day public symposium to promote grief literacy among the public, academic, and professional audiences, while co-exploring ways to foster more ‘compassionate communities’ (Breen et al., 2022) that are responsive to grief and loss in an informed and destigmatizing manner. This event is made possible by the generous support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), King's University College, the Department of Thanatology, and the South London Neighbourhood Resource Centre (SLNRC).
The Grief Literacy Symposium will bring together a keynote speaker, Dr. Lauren Breen, who helped develop the concept of grief literacy, and 15 presenters who will share current research and best practices on the themes of grief, loss, and resiliency. The Symposium will be open to the public and organized as a series of moderated roundtables that promote the active exchange of knowledge among an interdisciplinary group of scholars, practitioners, students, and community members.
The Symposium will conclude with a public Photovoice Exhibit and dissemination of preliminary results of a participatory arts-based research project on Yazidi women’s experiences of grief, loss, and resiliency. The Photovoice Exhibit will highlight many of the core themes discussed throughout the day’s activities and will enrich the public’s understanding of the unique forms of loss experienced by refugees and displaced persons as well as the strength and resiliency Yazidis draw upon as they re-make their lives in Canada.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Lauren Breen
'Grief Literacy and Youth'
In this presentation, Dr. Breen will define and illustrate the concept of grief literacy and draw upon recent studies of grieving children and young people. Preliminary findings from Dr. Breen's study of grief literacy for young people (14-24 years) will be shared. Prioritizing the voices of children and young people is important if we want a grief literate society for everyone.
Lauren Breen, PhD FT, is a professor of psychology at Curtin University. She is known internationally for her research on the psychology of grief and loss across the lifespan and its intersection with mental health. She has published over 170 journal articles and book chapters. In 2022, she received the Research Recognition Award from the Association for Death Education and Counseling (USA). She is a Fellow of Thanatology: Death, Dying and Bereavement (USA) and a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society. She was a board member of Grief Australia for 9 years and managing editor of Death Studies for 4 years. She is currently on the board of Lionheart Camp for Kids, which supports grieving children, teens, and families. Lauren has delivered keynote presentations around the world (e.g., USA, Scotland, Indonesia, Ireland, and Singapore) and her TEDx talk “Six myths about grief to bust for yourself, and your loved ones” has achieved over 50,000 views. Edited with Carrie Traher, her book The Routledge International Handbook of Child and Adolescent Grief in Contemporary Contexts was published in 2024.
