Anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one during the pandemic understands the profound ways in which it has affected their ability to say goodbye and begin to grieve. Gathering restrictions and isolation have complicated grief for many. Dr. Sara Murphy helps us find ways to honor the lives of our loved ones, support others who are grieving and find comfort on our own grief journeys.
Dr. Sara Murphy is a death educator, certified thanatologist (Association for Death Education and Counseling), and suicidologist with fifteen years of scholarly, pedagogical, and professional experience in the field. She is a faculty member at the University of Rhode Island and an affiliate faculty member in the Thanatology Graduate Program at Marian University. Publicly, Sara conducts professional development and educational workshops and seminars on specialized topics of death, dying, and bereavement nationwide for businesses, schools, and professional organizations. Sara is also a suicide and bereavement consultant, an expert witness on disenfranchised grief and on suicide, a contributing writer for the National Funeral Directors Association, and the author of the booklet, “Grieving Alone & Together: Responding to the Loss of Your Loved One during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” a free resource for helping professionals and individuals published by the Funeral Service Foundation.
