July | CE WEBINAR
July Webinar:
More Than a Decision: A Palliative Approach to Understanding Grief and Decision-Making in Serious Illness
Date, Time & Location: July 15, 2026 | 9am PT-10am PT/12pm ET-1pm ET | Zoom
Pricing: SWHPN Members - $25 | Non Members - $45
Presented By: Emmanuel Philor, D.Min
Decisions made during serious illness and at the end of life are rarely based on medical information alone. Grief, loss, fear, hope, and uncertainty often shape how patients and families understand options and make choices. This presentation explores the impact of anticipatory grief on decision-making and highlights the essential role of chaplains and social workers in supporting patients and families through the emotional, psychosocial, and spiritual dimensions of serious illness. Using a palliative care framework, participants will learn practical strategies to recognize grief-driven responses, facilitate meaningful dialogue, and support decisions that reflect patient values, goals, and quality of life.
Learning Objectives:
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Define grief-based decision making and describe how anticipatory grief, loss, and emotional distress influence healthcare choices.
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Recognize common grief responses in patients and families during serious illness and end-of-life care.
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Identify interventions and resources that help patients and families cope with loss, uncertainty, and complex treatment decisions.
About the Speaker: Emmanuel Philor, D.Min
Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Philor Sr. is a palliative care chaplain and bereavement coordinator, whose work focuses on the intersection of faith, grief, healthcare, and community care. He serves at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, where he provides spiritual and emotional support to patients and families navigating serious illness, trauma, grief, and end-of-life transitions. Philor’s doctoral research explored how faith traditions shape experiences of loss, healing, and resilience. Philor has presented on topics including overcoming medical mistrust and trauma, grief practices in the Black Christian context, and recognizing the presence of grief in clinical encounters. Philor is passionate about helping individuals and organizations engage grief with compassion, cultural humility, and hope, while fostering meaningful conversations that support healing and whole-person care.
August | CE WEBINAR
August Webinar:
Holding Death in a Dying World: Secondary Trauma, Receptive-Affective Capacity, and Collective Resistance
Date, Time & Location: August 13, 2026 | 12pm PT - 1pm PT / 3:00pm ET - 4:00pm ET | Zoom
Free to all SWHPN Members & Non-Members
Presented By: Abigail Nathanson, DSW, MSW, APHSW-C, ACS
As repeated exposure to death and systemic distress challenges emotional and relational capacity, the task is not to harden but to remain permeable without breaking. Through a polyvagal lens, secondary trauma is understood as an intrapsychic and embodied disruption of attunement rather than a failure of coping, reframing presence as distinct from productivity. Receptive-affective capacity is reconsidered as a practice that can restore relational presence and nourish palliative social work clinicians amid ongoing exposure to death, trauma and grief.
Learning Objectives:
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Analyze how repeated exposure to death, grief, and moral distress affects emotional regulation, clinical judgment, and relational presence in palliative social work practice.
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Differentiate between signs of grounded engagement, emotional over-activation, and shutdown in oneself and colleagues when working with seriously ill and dying patients.
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Apply concrete, in-the-moment strategies to restore steadiness and maintain compassionate presence during difficult clinical encounters.
About the Speaker: Abigail Nathanson, DSW, MSW, APHSW-C, ACS
Dr. Abigail Nathanson, LCSW, APHSW-C, ACS, received both her master's and doctoral degrees in social work from NYU, where she is currently on faculty. She is a trauma therapist and palliative social worker, and helped to create the Advanced Clinical Seminars on Grief and Trauma training program at NYU. Dr. Nathanson is trained in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy, EMDR and Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy.
November | CE WEBINAR
November Webinar:
Holding Death in a Dying World: Secondary Trauma, Receptive-Affective Capacity, and Collective Resistance
Date & Time: Thursday November 19th, 9:00am PT/12:00pm ET - 10:00am PT/1:00pm ET
Pricing: SWHPN Members - $25 | Non Members - $45
Presented By: Delia Cortez, MSW, LCSW, APHSW-C
Patients facing illness, injury, amputation, or other significant changes to their bodies often experience grief that extends beyond physical loss. Changes in function, appearance, independence, and identity can create a sense of estrangement from one's own body and significantly impact coping and healthcare decision-making. This presentation explores the concept of "estranged body parts" through a grief-informed social work lens. Participants will learn to identify grief responses associated with bodily loss, assess the psychosocial factors influencing decision-making, and apply practical interventions to support patients and families as they navigate complex medical choices. Through a case example and discussion, attendees will gain strategies to facilitate adaptation, promote self-determination, and provide compassionate, person-centered care.
Learning Objectives:
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Raise awareness about the difficulties faced by those undergoing an amputation.
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Explore methods to assist individuals in finding meaning during their amputation journey.
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Recognize the importance of early grief work prior to an amputation by applying Worden's Four Grief Tasks.
About the Speaker: Delia Cortez, MSW, LCSW, APHSW-C
Delia Cortez, has been a Clinical Social Worker at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center for 18 years and a member of its inpatient palliative care team since 2016. She completed advanced palliative care training through the CSU Shiley Haynes Institute and is a graduate of the post-master's leadership fellowship at the NYU Silver Zelda Foster Studies Program. Delia is dedicated to supporting patients and families facing serious illness and is passionate about clinical supervision, mentoring, and teaching.
CONTINUING EDUCATION
Continuing Education Information
Social Work Hospice + Palliative Care Network (SWHPN), #1716, is approved as a provider for social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) www.aswb.org, through the Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Social Work Hospice + Palliative Care Network aka SWHPN maintains responsibility for the program. ASWB Approval Period: 7/18/2023 – 7/18/2026.
Social workers should contact their regulatory board to determine course approval for continuing education credits.