April is National Autism Month, and in this episode we're speaking with Dr. Kenneth Doka and Lisa Morgan about how autism might affect a person’s grief and loss journey. No two people grieve alike, but an autistic adult may experience and react to grief in unique ways that others may not understand. Dr. Doka and Lisa Morgan help us better understand how to support an autistic adult who is grieving and how to approach grief as an autistic adult.
Dr. Kenneth J. Doka is a Professor Emeritus at the Graduate School of The College of New Rochelle and Senior Vice-President for Grief Programs for the Hospice Foundation of America.
Dr. Doka was elected President of the Association for Death Education and Counseling in 1993. In 1995, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Work Group on Dying, Death and Bereavement and served as chair from 1997-1999. The Association for Death Education and Counseling presented him with an Award for Outstanding Contributions in the Field of Death Education in 1998, Significant Contributions to the Field of Thanatology in 2014 and Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. In 2000 Scott and White presented him an award for Outstanding Contributions to Thanatology and Hospice. His Alma Mater Concordia College presented him with their first Distinguished Alumnus Award. He is a recipient of the Caring Hands Award as well as the Dr. Robert Fulton CDEB Founder’s Award. In 2006, Dr. Doka was grandfathered in as a Mental Health Counselor under NY State’s first licensure of counselors. Dr. Doka is a recipient of the International Center for Loss, Bereavement, Loss and Human Resilience and the Israeli Bereavement Forum Award for Lifetime Contributions to the Study of Loss, Bereavement, and Human Resilience, and The International Work Group on Death, Dying, and Bereavement’s Herman Feifel Award for Lifetime Contributions to the field of thanatology as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award from ADEC (The Association for Death Education and Counseling).
Lisa Morgan Consulting LLC
Lisa Morgan is a certified autism specialist, consultant, speaker and personal trainer. A certified autism specialist and advocate of the autism community with regards to crisis supports, suicide prevention, and postvention.
Founder and co-chair of the Autism and Suicide committee of the American Association of Suicidology and author of ‘Crisis Supports for the Autism Community' – a toolkit.
A subject matter expert as an autistic adult with lived-experience in the field of suicidology: as a suicide loss survivor, co-researcher, teacher/trainer, and speaker.
