On Saturday, 6 March 2021 the South African Medical Students Association (SAMSA) at UKZN hosted a free webinar titled “Coping with Grief”. We were joined by 3 experts in psychology whom each made their talk relevant to the pandemic. Our guest speakers were Ms Cindy Coleman ( clinical psychologist), Ms Tracey Brand (social psychologist) and Dr Hilton Humphries (research psychologist).
Our presenters shared their personal story of grief and this opened the floor for our students and guests to internally reflect on how the grieving process has played a role in their lives. Our audience appreciated the five stages of grief as most relatable, others recognising how loss may have affected them at different ages. Finally, aside from death of a loved one, students were also informed about grief brought on by the socioeconomic woes as a fallout of the pandemic. As medical students we were also privileged to hear from Ms Cindy Coleman on how we may go about at offering psychosocial support to someone we recognise to be grieving.
We would like to thank our three guest speakers for spending time with us, as well as the SAMSA UKZN committee members who played their role in organising and delivering this informative event.
If you missed this live session, you are welcome to watch the recording on SAMSA UKZN’s YouTube channel.
