Bereavement in America affects millions, with far-reaching health, economic, and social consequences. Beyond personal tragedy, bereavement is compounded by policies and systems that result in declines in social well-being, poor health, and economic challenges. Since 2020, Congress, The White House, and federal agencies are increasingly recognizing bereavement as a policy concern. This session will provide historical context, insights, and trends into national developments and how they are reshaping bereavement care. Participants will understand the emerging national policy landscape, how to engage these national developments, and offer a new lens for the care they provide to grieving people. Learning Objectives: To articulate why bereavement is a public health crisis – Participants will understand how grief and bereavement affect not only individuals but also social units, institutions, and society, across the lifespan, and how addressing its short- and long-term health, social, and economic impacts can redirect the trajectory of life outcomes. To identify systemic hardships impairing effective grief adaptation and processing – Participants will examine how existing policies, responses, systems, and structures compound victimization, if not cause cumulative trauma, for bereaved individuals, and how, as frontline providers, they can facilitate functional coping and adaptive processing in the aftermath. To understand national developments accelerating bereavement […]