When: Tuesday, May 26, 2026 4pm EST / 1pm PST
In honour of Nursing Week, PSW Day, and National Hospice Palliative Care Week, this special webinar brings national leaders together to recognize the emotional labour carried by those who care for others. Palliative Care Everywhere: Caring for the Grief of Those Who Care explores the often‑unseen grief experienced by nurses, PSWs, and palliative care professionals, and highlights why grief literacy is essential for healthy, compassionate workplaces.
Featuring Dr. Mary Ellen Macdonald, anthropologist and grief literacy scholar, and Dr. Susan Cadell, social work researcher and adjunct professor in the School of Public Health Sciences at University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, both co‑founders of Grief Matters.
The conversation examines cumulative loss, relational grief, and the public health importance of supporting caregivers. Together, they offer practical, team‑based approaches to building compassionate communities within health‑care settings.
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the session, participants will be able to:
1. Recognize the unique nature of grief experienced by nurses, PSWs, and palliative care professionals. Understand cumulative loss, relational grief, and the emotional labour embedded in caregiving roles.
2. Explain grief literacy as a public health issue.Identify how grief literacy reduces stigma, strengthens teams, and supports healthier workplaces.
3. Identify ways to build compassionate communities within health‑care settings. Explore collective care practices, rituals, and team‑based approaches to supporting grief.
Dr.Mary Ellen Macdonald and Dr.Susan Cadell
Dr.Mary Ellen Macdonald, PhD is an anthropologist and Professor in Palliative Medicine at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She holds the J & W Murphy Foundation Endowed Chair in Palliative Care, with the mandate of contributing to palliative and end-of-life care research and practice across Nova Scotia and beyond. She has been researching death, dying, and bereavement for two decades and uses a public health framework to advance death and grief literacy. See her TEDx talk on ‘Grief, memory, and caring for the dead.’ She is co-Founder of www.GriefMatters.ca.
Dr.Susan Cadell is a social work researcher and adjunct professor in the School of Public Health Sciences at University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Susan is passionate about talking about grief. She does research about positive aspects of stress and coping in various health situations. She focuses on grief through exploring making meaning, spirituality, palliative care and tattoos of all kinds.
