The Young Widowhood Project

As Father’s Day approaches, I honor my son’s grief and the grief of all children who have lost a parent. I deeply appreciate how my son memorializes his daddy in meaningful ways—like in this picture he made on Minecraft. Simultaneously, it is painful as the surviving parent to witness my son’s grief. I can do it. It’s just hard. How grief is held in the family and experienced by each family member matters. Grateful for researchers who study childhood grief. Also grateful for studies examining the surviving parent’s experiences as widowed parents. Doctoral candidate at Tulane University School of Social Work, Kelley Ellis, is leading a study that examines the experience of parenting when widowed young. I am honored to be joining her and Sarah Vollmann as co-author on this study.

https://lnkd.in/guv3hkSN The article on young widows’ experiences of sexuality after partner loss is now published in open access! You can read it by clicking on the link above!

Two Research Fellows at The Young Widowhood Project successfully defended their dissertation projects this morning. Proud to have been their advisor as they worked on projects related to premature widowhood. Congratulations to Dr. Emily George-Tilley and Dr. Elaine Cornelius!!!

Thinking of widows and widowers around the world on National Widows’ Day.

Excited to announce the third study by researchers The Young Widowhood Project has been accepted for publication!! Beyond grateful for the young widows who participated in the study. Sexuality is never an easy thing to talk about with a complete stranger, but they were brave. These are the most meaningful, hilarious, and touching interviews I have conducted in my life. I’ve never cried this much conducting interviews. I’ve also never had so much fun laughing at all the ways we deal with losing a sexual partner. These participants are the BEST!! A big thanks to my co-authors: Kelley Ellis, Lucas Sanchez, LCSW, Sarah Vollmann, Kevin Buckler, Elizabeth Gilmore, and Fei Yang.?? Thank you for caring about this population and for your support in moving this research forward! Link to the paper in the comments! … #research #academia #youngwidow #sexuality #griefjourney #griefjourney #widow

People do not often realize that part of the price of widowhood is losing the most intimate sexual relationship. This is a tremendous and hidden loss, but is is under-explored in the literature. A team of researchers at The Young Widowhood project have written the first paper that takes a deep dive into the experience of sexual loss and yearning in widows aged 45 and under. It is now under review. This poster is based on that paper. We'd love to hear your thoughts! #grief #youngwidowhood #sexuality