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Seminar Sessions

Virtual National Military Survivor Seminar and Family Program
May 19 - 25, 2020

     

Seminar Sessions

Virtual National Military Survivor Seminar and Family Program
May 19 - 25, 2020

     

While we are all facing these unexpected adjustments to our daily lives, one constant remains — the love and support of your TAPS family. That is why we’re bringing our national seminar right to you. We have a variety of dynamic sessions available online throughout the week at no cost, with all of the resources, care and love we can offer, coming to you in the comfort of your home. 

Our session presenters are leading experts in the field of grief and loss, and you will have the opportunity to gain tools and resources for your grief journey. We will have an exciting program of virtual workshops, care groups, family programming, opportunities to memorialize our loved ones, and special celebrity appearances.

Make sure to download the TAPS Events app. This mobile app puts advance details about the seminar right in the palm of your hand. You’ll be able to review the schedule, read about the presenters and featured speakers, and learn more about TAPS staff who are here to support you wherever you are in your grief journey.

 

Getting Connected to the Virtual Seminar

We will email the seminar access link closer to the event date. Please be sure to check your email. If you are registering the week of the event and have not received your access link after registering, please email us at seminarregistrations@taps.org.

 

Session Descriptions and Schedules

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

 Tuesday Recorded Session

  • 5:00 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. Eastern

    Rooted in Hope; Connected in Love – Tina Barrett | Erin Jacobson
    As we open this week of healing, connection and honor, we begin by exploring ways to remain grounded on our journeys. Join us as we share tools, ways and ideas to be rooted in hope, connected in love and to grow with strength. We encourage you to bring your creative side as we will announce an interactive art project for our TAPS family to participate in. We would love to see you and your creations posted on our Facebook link during the week.

  • 6:00 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. Eastern

    Goals, Grief & How Things Change - Renee Monczynski
    Often we find ourselves setting big goals that match our beautiful, broad, imaginative dreams. In this session, we will learn how to set realistic goals, to give ourselves credit for the small wins, to reset after lessons learned, and to achieve those wonderful dreams in realistic expectations.

  • 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Eastern

    Care Groups: Separate sessions for Siblings, Parents, and Spouses / Ex-Spouses / Significant Others and Fiances - Without Children
    Care Groups offer an opportunity to share your own story, experiences, and feelings while listening to others who have a similar story and relationship with their service member. They're structured by relationship, circumstance, or sometimes both. TAPS offers a wide range of groups with something for every survivor.

All sessions other than care groups will be recorded, so if you cannot attend a session, rest assured it will be available at taps.org for you to experience at a later time.

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Wednesday, May 20, 2020

 Wednesday Recorded Session

  • 5:00 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. Eastern

    The Uniqueness of Your Grief - Dr. Kenneth Doka
    Every individual responds to loss in his or her unique way. This session explores the grief process, emphasizing and validating the many possible responses, which may include a range of physical, cognitive, and spiritual reactions. We’ll also review self-help strategies to help you cope with grief more effectively. This session is especially helpful for individuals beginning their grief journey.

  • 6:00 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. Eastern

    Integration and Inspiration: Women's Empowerment Program  – Erin Jacobson | Emily Muñoz
    In this session, program co-directors will share tools that have resonated most with Women's Empowerment participants with the aim to educate, inspire, strengthen (and entertain). They believe that healing can be found in unexpected places; that we are in this together, and that, no matter how hurt we are, we can become stronger every day. This workshop is suitable for anyone who is looking for creative ways to cope with stress, identify emotions, and feel better about the way they’re grieving - and living.

  • 7:00 p.m. – 7:45 p.m. Eastern

    TAPS Tribe for Good Grief Camp Military Mentors
    This is an opportunity to connect with other TAPS Military Mentors, to share about relationships formed with mentees, challenges you have had to overcome, your own personal grief stories and for those who have never been a Good Grief Camp Mentor to learn about what that entails. Please come join us, share or just listen.

  • 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Eastern

    Care Groups: Separate sessions for Spouses / Ex-Spouses / Significant Others and Fiances - With Children, and Adult Children
    Care Groups offer an opportunity to share your own story, experiences, and feelings while listening to others who have a similar story and relationship with their service member. They're structured by relationship, circumstance, or sometimes both. TAPS offers a wide range of groups with something for every survivor.

  • 8:00 p.m. – 8:45 p.m. Eastern

    I Served, Too – Renee Monczynski
    For those survivors who are also military veterans, this group session is where we can come together and feel the camaraderie among other veterans. This group offers an opportunity to share your own story, experiences, and feelings while listening to others who have a similar story. It is a place to recognize the grief that accompanies being a veteran. We served, too.

All sessions other than care groups will be recorded, so if you cannot attend a session, rest assured it will be available at taps.org for you to experience at a later time.

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Thursday, May 21, 2020

 Thursday Recorded Session

  • 5:00 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. Eastern

    Grief after a Death from Illness - Dr. Bill Hoy
    When your loved one is dying from an unforeseen illness, you may find yourself shocked and unprepared as you are thrown into the life of a caregiver. What happens, however, when this battle is over? In this session, we will look at different ways your body responds to the stressors of caregiving and the grief that happens before and after a death. We will also explore how one’s identity may shift as roles change from caregiver to bereaved.

  • 6:00 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. Eastern

    Managing Day-to-Day Finances During the Coronavirus Crisis - Joseph Silva
    Joseph Silva, a Marine veteran and financial professional with The Prudential Insurance Company of America, will provide you with the information you need to navigate the financial implications of the Coronavirus and put you at ease during this time of uncertainty. He'll provide strategies to cut expenses and stay on top of bills.

  • 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Eastern

    Care Groups: Separate sessions for All Loved Ones, Suicide Loss, and Illness Loss
    Care Groups offer an opportunity to share your own story, experiences, and feelings while listening to others who have a similar story and relationship with their service member. They're structured by relationship, circumstance, or sometimes both. TAPS offers a wide range of groups with something for every survivor.

All sessions other than care groups will be recorded, so if you cannot attend a session, rest assured it will be available at taps.org for you to experience at a later time.

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Friday, May 22, 2020

 Friday Recorded Session

  • 5:00 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. Eastern

    Moving Forward with a Broken Heart - Dr. Eileen O’Grady
    Explore the five elements of positive psychology and what we know leads to a great life despite getting our hearts broken. It will emphasize strategies to pursue high-level wellness, boundary setting and how self-care is not selfish. This session is designed for survivors and those caring for them who feel ready to begin rebuilding their lives after a loss.

  • 6:00 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. Eastern

    When To Lead and How To Follow in Your Grief Journey – Gabriel Rao | Rachel Hunsell
    Discover the mile markers in this unfamiliar landscape that can help you know when to lead and when to follow. Nothing is familiar, your family, your work, even your own thoughts. Which direction should I go? In this often disorienting space called grief, how am I supposed to lead? In this workshop, we will explore what it looks like to lead in the unfamiliar spaces, follow in the familiar, and simply how to be present in the valleys. Come join us as we navigate the unfamiliar and find the new tools to forge a path ahead.

  • 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Eastern

    Care Groups: Separate Sessions for Combat Loss, Accident Loss, and Homicide Loss
    Care Groups offer an opportunity to share your own story, experiences, and feelings while listening to others who have a similar story and relationship with their service member. They're structured by relationship, circumstance, or sometimes both. TAPS offers a wide range of groups with something for every survivor.

  • 8:30 p.m. – 9:15 p.m. Eastern

    Virtual Family Campfire, S’mores, and Stories - Kerry Garland | Tony Paz
    Join us from the comfort and warmth of your own campsite! We'll go over some of our favorite s'mores recipes, tell a couple stories, sing some songs, and hear from you while we share our favorite camp-time activities.  Campfire Instructions (PDF)

All sessions other than care groups will be recorded, so if you cannot attend a session, rest assured it will be available at taps.org for you to experience at a later time. 

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Saturday, May 23, 2020
National Military Survivor Seminar Schedule

Host - Kyra Phillips is an Investigative Correspondent for ABC News. She joined the network in April, 2018. An award-winning journalist, Phillips joined CNN in 1999 anchoring Live From, CNN Newsroom, American Morning, and moved to HLN in 2012 to anchor Raising America with Kyra Phillips, a daily interactive, investigative program that focused on news impacting the modern American family. She also led the network’s 2012 election coverage. Throughout her career, Phillips has garnered exclusive interviews with some of the world's most public figures. Phillips has won two Peabody awards, six Emmy awards, and two Edward R. Murrow awards for investigative reporting. Additionally, she has won numerous Golden Microphones and other honors including the Bill Stout Memorial Award for enterprise reporting. Kyra Phillips has been a supporter of TAPS for many years most notably the co-host of TAPS Honor Guard Gala.

  • 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Eastern

     Opening Recorded Session

    Join us for the opening session with TAPS President and Founder Bonnie Carroll, Dr. Alan Wolfelt, General (Ret.) Dempsey and Voices of Service. Including inspirational remarks by Secretary Robert Wilkie and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley and his lovely wife Mrs. Hollyanne Milley.

  • 12:15 p.m. - 1: 00 p.m. Eastern 

     Out from the Shadows, My Healing Journey — Bob Delaney 
    At the height of the "Godfather" era, Delaney wore a wire and infiltrated the Mob. His undercover work was a success, but he struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and traces of Stockholm syndrome after getting too close to those he investigated. Therapy helped him come to terms with what he'd endured, and he later became well-known and respected as an NBA referee. Delaney hopes his presentation will exemplify the Dali Lama's words, "There is a growing appreciation of understanding one's emotions, how they operate, and how to manage them." Please note this session may cause triggers to your own experiences that may cause reactions for some attendees. Bob is a member of the TAPS Board of Advisors. His firsthand experiences coupled with a passion to better understand Mind Health makes him an expert on the subject. His efforts to educate and bring attention to the topic of post-traumatic stress have entailed visits to military troops around the world, including multiple trips to Afghanistan and Iraq. Described by General Robert Brown, U.S. Army Four Star Commander of the Pacific (retired), as the "person who related to soldiers better than any visitor I have seen in my 36 years in the military,". He has been the subject of numerous media articles and shows including Dr. Sanjay Gupta CNN.

  • 1:15 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Eastern 

     Traumatic Loss: Understanding and Healing — Kim Ruocco | Dr. Carla Stumpf-Patton 
    This session will focus on various strategies that can be helpful in understanding traumatic loss such as finding an effective grief rhythm that creates a pathway for the grieving process to occur. The presentation will compare the differences between trauma and grief, review various options for treatment and trauma-informed care, and explore the hopeful concept referred to as "Posttraumatic Growth" for healing after a traumatic loss.

  • 2:00 p.m. -2:45 p.m. Eastern

     A Trauma Healing Diet — Dr. James Gordon
    Psychological trauma disturbs every aspect of our physiology as well as our psychology. Emotional distress compounds the disturbance to our GI tract and to every aspect of digestion. This session provides an overview of the damage trauma does to our brain and our gut and offers practical, evidence-based ways to use food, supplements, and herbs to repair the GI tract and restore resiliency to our brains. 

  • 2:45 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

    Special Guest Chef Robert Irvine

  • 3:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. Eastern

     Love After Loss — Dr. Justin Yopp | Dr. Denise Rollins
    Dr. Yopp and Dr. Rollins will discuss how surviving spouses can find ways to honor their spouse or partner who has died while also choosing to love again. 

  • 4:00 p.m. - 4:45 p.m. Eastern

     Finding the Meaning in Your Grief — Dr. Robert Neimeyer | Audri Beugelsdijk 
    This session talks about hoping to find meaning in the wake of loss and striving to reconstruct a continuing bond with our loved one who is physically absent but psychologically present. Dr. Neimeyer and Audri will discuss how to help us understand how growth can come from grief, despite the emotional challenges that mourning brings. Loss and bereavement are universal, but the way we each respond to the life transitions that grief brings is varied. Some of us may adapt to the loss surprisingly well, others may struggle for a long time or feel unable to return to a normal level of functioning. Dr. Neimeyer will help survivors reconstruct rather than relinquish their relationship with the deceased.

  • 5:00 p.m. - 5:45 p.m.  Eastern

     Mental Resilience and the Courage to Be where You Are — William Wagasy
    Real-world examples, taken from history and from William Wagasy's experiences in training and combat as a Navy SEAL, form the basis of this interactive, introspective workshop. Participants will discover new perspectives, hidden strengths, and the power to reframe each day's "mission" as part of a larger purpose.

  • 5:45 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Eastern 

    Wrap Up - Bonnie Carroll | Dr. Frank Campbell
    Musical Performance by Voices of Service

All sessions on Saturday will be recorded, so if you cannot attend a session, rest assured it will be available at taps.org for you to experience at a later time.

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Sunday, May 24, 2020
Family Program Schedule

11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Eastern

All Age-Level Virtual Gatherings for TAPS Kids
As we host our Virtual National Military Survivor Seminar this year, we are happy to provide a welcoming place for TAPS kids! In our virtual gatherings for our TAPS children and teens, we will meet our TAPS community, will have fun while interacting through games and icebreakers, and will explore what virtual Good Grief Camp activities look like during this time. These sessions are designated by age so the children and teens will be sharing among their peer groups and each session is hosted by trained Group Leaders, Mentors and Staff. For our groups ages four to nine, we welcome guardians to join.

All sessions other than care groups and age specific children’s groups will be recorded, so if you cannot attend a session, rest assured it will be available at taps.org for you to experience at a later time.

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Monday, May 25, 2020

Arlington National Cemetery Wreath Laying

  • 11 a.m. Eastern

    Watch the Virtual "Parade of Heroes; Hosted by Kathie Lee Gifford with Performance by Tori Kelly; presented via Watch Party on Ancestry.com Facebook page.

    This Memorial Day virtual parade, which also helps commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, will bring to life stories of strength and hope through exclusive veteran interviews and special tributes. HISTORY®, Wounded Warrior Project, The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation, Heroes of the Second World War and TAPS all teamed up with Ancestry to produce the joint tribute to those who sacrificed their lives to secure our freedom.

  • 2:00 p.m. Eastern 

    Please enjoy the Memorial Day Parade online; hosted by the American Veterans Center.

The Memorial Amphitheater Online Exhibit
Arlington National Cemetery commemorates the Memorial Amphitheater's centennial anniversary with its first online exhibit beginning on May 13, 2020. While the cemetery remains closed to visitors, the online exhibit allows the public a chance to visit virtually.

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