Coping with a loss

UTRGV’s Office of Continuing Education and Social Work Department will host the “Autism, Grief and Loss: There’s A Lot We Don’t Know” workshop from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Harlingen Clinical Education Building Auditorium.

“The autism workshop is part of our Grief Series,” said Marco Carbajal, program coordinator for the Office of Continuing Education. “It’s based on how to help children and adolescents cope with the grieving process.  Sometimes, it’s for families and other times, it’s for social workers and professional counselors.”

The workshop is open to anyone interested in participating but admission is $35.

“The majority of the time, we have people who are social workers and counselors, but we’ve had parents, we’ve had educators, we’ve had somebody who just knows someone who is experiencing a loss,” Carbajal said. “They are definitely open to anybody.”

Stephanie A. Sokolosky, a board certified behavior analyst in Harlingen, will lead the workshop. Participants will learn how to help children with autism cope with the loss of somebody through practice exercises, according to Carbajal.

The workshop guides the participants through the stages of loss and provides tips on how to help children express themselves, as well as helping them experience the catharsis they need.

“It’s a great opportunity to learn techniques and strategies for dealing with somebody who is experiencing loss,” Carbajal said. “I think that’s not always the easiest thing to deal with. A lot of the time people don’t know how to help somebody when they are grieving.”

The sessions are done in a round-table manner where the presenter and participants discuss tips on how to help autistic children deal with the grieving process.

Carbajal said there are a lot of questions and points discussed during the interactive sessions.

“The response that we’ve had from these Grief Series sessions has been overwhelming,” she said. “They’re very positive and usually do very well.”

The Harlingen Clinical Education Building Auditorium is located on the UTRGV Harlingen campus, 2102 Treasure Hills Blvd. For more information about the workshop, call the Office of Continuing Education at 665-2071.