Khris Ford is a recently retired Licensed Professional Counselor with 30+ years focusing on Grief and Trauma with persons of all ages and losses of all kinds.  She founded the Austin Center for Grief and Loss, a thriving non-profit in Austin, Texas.  Khris is also a trained spiritual director and is the founder and co-director of the North Carolina Institute for Spiritual Direction and Formation, where she is responsible for the 2-year Institute for Spiritual Directors.   Khris’ passion for the work of grief and trauma is fueled by her own experiences of loss and the firm conviction that these experiences have the potential to transform us, to move us toward wholeness and the person God has created us to be.  She has “adopted” a mantra from Fr. Richard Rohr,

“If you don’t transform your suffering, you transmit it.”

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• Some basic understandings related to Grief.
• Ways in which grief may manifest in people of all ages.
• Long-term impact of unattended grief and trauma.
• Recommendations for those caring for a teen or young adult who is grieving.