About Eleanor
Due to my personal experience as a family caregiver and strong grief background , coming from over 20 years of academic and independent study, I see the impact on well-being of loss and grief in the circumstances that caregivers experience. This view is different from the conventional cultural views related to loss and grief that are primarily related solely to death. To share this innovative view, I developed the ground-breaking Acknowledge, Assess, Assist - components of the 3-A Grief Approach. The 3-A Approach has been academically published, widely presented and well received.
Since devising the 3-A Approach, it has been broadened to be applied in various other serious illnesses such as schizophrenia, Parkinson's, MS. As well, it has been further developed into a framework for coping, expanded to include situational losses related to relationship breakup, job loss, etc.- demonstrating that grief processing is not just about death.
Being a Child of Holocaust Survivors, I had a lot of exposure to loss. Most of my mother's and father's family members perished in the Holocaust. I experienced this trauma as a second generation offspring. Upon reflection, I attribute my initial pursuit in grief studies to my attempt at making sense of my own personal experience. I then acknowledged and assessed that others could be assisted as well.
Previous Employment:
Social Worker, Alzheimer Society of York Region, Canada
Social Worker, Outpatient Mental Health, Markham Stouffville Hospital
Social Worker Intern, Community Psychogeriatrics, Sunnybrook Health Sciences, Toronto, Canada
Social Worker Intern, Newmarket Family Life Centre
Education
Master of Social Work,
University of Toronto, Canada
Masters Thesis Proposal: An Inquiry into Loss, Depression and Grief
Bachelor of Arts, Psychology
Specialized Honours Program
York University, Toronto
Bereavement Education
Certificate, University of Toronto
Social Context of Mental Health and Illness, Accomplished with Distinction, Coursera online taught by Charmaine Williams, Associate Professor, University of Toronto
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, York Region, ON
for Testimonials