Working with Grief and Loss among Asians and Asian Americans
Presented by
Dr. Christine Chang
Friday, May 1st, 2026
9:00 am - 11:15 am PT
2 CEs - On Zoom
Course Description
Grief and loss are universal human experiences, yet how they are understood, expressed, and processed is profoundly intertwined with cultural context, migration history, and intergenerational trauma. This skill-focused clinical training is designed for licensed therapists working with Asian and Asian American clients experiencing grief and loss. Appropriate for both beginning-level clinicians and experienced practitioners, this training will provide a culturally grounded framework for understanding how grief may manifest across diverse Asian and Asian American communities, while strengthening clinicians' capacities for assessment, conceptualization, and intervention within culturally specific tools.
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Participants will explore how cultural experiences—including immigration and migration histories, family dynamics, learned patterns of emotional expression and communication, and evolving cultural identities in the US—may shape mourning processes. The training will address a comprehensive range of grief experiences: bereavement, suicide loss, traumatic loss, anticipatory loss, pregnancy loss, and ambiguous or disenfranchised losses that are frequently minimized or rendered invisible within clinical and even cultural frameworks. Particular attention will be given to how grief may be experienced somatically, emotionally, and relationally in ways that align with Asian and Asian American cultural beliefs, including presentations that may differ from clinicians' expectations.
The training will integrate culturally-responsive, trauma-informed adaptations of evidence-based approaches, emphasizing clinical attunement to culturally meaningful experiences of grief and mourning. Participants will critically examine prevailing grief theories and diagnostic frameworks—including stage models and conceptualizations of "complicated grief"—considering both their clinical utility and their limitations when applied to Asian and Asian American clients. Case examples and significant clinical moments will be used to illuminate common clinical challenges, including working with clients who are stuck in minimizing or intellectualizing their emotional experience, navigating therapeutic relationship complexities such as deference to clinician authority, and supporting grief processes compounded by cultural and intergenerational trauma. Clinicians will develop concrete skills for creating therapeutic spaces that honor culturally congruent healing processes and address the intersecting layers of loss that many Asian and Asian American clients carry. This training is well-suited for therapists early in their professional development seeking foundational cultural competence, as well as seasoned clinicians pursuing greater depth, nuance, and cultural humility in their clinical practice with Asian and Asian American populations.
Educational Goals
This training will equip therapists with a culturally grounded framework for understanding and addressing grief and loss among Asian and Asian American clients. Participants will examine how cultural contexts, such as immigration histories, family dynamics, and cultural identities, intertwine with the mourning processes across diverse Asian and Asian American communities. The training will integrate culturally responsive, trauma-informed adaptations of evidence-based approaches and provide tangible skills for creating therapeutic spaces that honor culturally congruent healing processes while addressing the intersecting layers of loss that clients carry.
Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to:
- Identify at least three cultural factors that may intertwine with how Asian and Asian American clients experience and express grief.
- Use a culturally grounded framework of grief theory for clinical assessment and conceptualization when working with Asian and Asian American clients.
- Describe at least three culturally responsive interventions for working with grief and loss among Asian and Asian American clients.
About Our Speaker
Dr. Christine Chang, Licensed Psychologist
Christine Chang, Ph.D., has been practicing as a licensed psychologist in California since 2016. She currently serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Counseling Program at Palo Alto University, after previously teaching in the Clinical Psychology PsyD programs at the University of San Francisco and the Wright Institute. Dr. Chang offers culturally informed depth psychotherapy with specialties in anxiety, grief, attachment trauma, and issues related to immigration and minority experiences. In addition to her clinical practice, she provides training and workshops focusing on contemporary psychodynamic theory and practice, cultural decolonization, and Asian/Asian American well-being. Her website is www.christinechangphd.com.
Location
Zoom Meeting. Requires pre-registration with Zoom using the instructions provided in your RECAMFT confirmation email in order to get your personal Zoom Join Link.
Registration
RSVP here. Please note that once you have RSVP'd for this event, you will receive a link to register for the Zoom Meeting. You must complete this second Zoom-registration step to gain access to the event link.
Pricing
1) Registration for All RECAMFT Members - no charge
2) Reciprocal registration for members of Marin CAMFT (CODE REQUIRED) - no charge
3) Other CAMFT Members - Licensed - $30.00
4) Other CAMFT Members - Pre-Licensed - $21.00
5) Non-CAMFT Members (licensed therapists who are not members of CAMFT) - $36.00
Training Schedule and Attendance Requirements
Please note, this is a 2-CE training, comprised of two hours of training plus time for RECAMFT announcements during the meeting. You must be logged on at the beginning of the training, be present during the event (including responding to attendance checks by coming on camera, verbally replying, and/or replying in the chat), and stay logged on for the full duration, to end at 11:15am, in order to earn the CEs. If your camera is off the entire time, and RECAMFT cannot verify you were physically present at your computer throughout the training, then RECAMFT cannot issue a CE certificate, as we would not be able to show that the BBS requirements for your participation were met.
No Recording Available
RECAMFT will not be recording this event. We hope you will be able to join us at the scheduled time to engage in this training.
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Redwood Empire Chapter CAMFT (Provider #57173) is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs. Redwood Empire Chapter CAMFT maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content.
- Disability Accommodation: To request an accommodation for a disability, please email info@recamft.org.
- Refunds: Refunds may be requested up to 7 days before the event by contacting info@recamft.org. No refunds are given beginning 7 days prior to the event. If a registrant cannot attend the event due to a mandatory evacuation or Public Safety Power Shut-off the day of the event, they can request and receive a refund with verification of address.
- CE Certificate: You must be physically present at your computer and watching and/or listening to the training while logged onto the zoom meeting for the entire presentation, and complete a post test and an evaluation to receive your CE credit certificate. Within a week after the conclusion of this educational event, once RECAMFT has processed attendance, an email with a link to the test and evaluation form will be sent to all participants whose physical presence during the online meeting is verified. Once you complete and submit your evaluation, you will have immediate access and be able to print or save your CE Certificate. This course meets the qualifications for 2.0 hrs of continuing education (CE) credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.
- Notice of Recording: Whenever possible, our CE events are recorded or filmed and may appear on our website. Your participation in this event by registering and attending indicates your approval for your likeness to appear in the recording, if any.
- Grievances: Direct grievances to info@recamft.org, and/or the chapter president at recamftpresident@gmail.com.
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