Jennifer Stern

Jennifer Stern, LISW, graduated from the SSA Master of Arts program at the University of Chicago and has worked as part of private practice for over a decade. Her areas of focus include working with individuals and families on grief, loss, bereavement, and difficult life transitions resulting from illness, marital conflict, divorce, and other complicated, fractured relationships. Her focus as a cognitive behavioral therapist is to empower individuals to take meaningful and purposeful action to create desired change in their lives. She teaches clients about the power of choice, wise minded thinking, and productive communication strategies as stepping stones to healing and transformation.

Articles:

Grieving for a Loved One I Never Knew

I must admit I find beautiful and limitless potential in the notion of grieving for loved ones that we did not have the opportunity to know. If given the choice, which we are not, of course we would choose to actually love in this life, real time, face to face. Unfortunately this is not always an option. But this truth does not have to prevent or limit us from loving or feeling loved. My father died one month before my twin brother and I were born. I did not know him. Yet, I do. I know that he was tall, handsome, […]

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Seek Compassion Over Judgment as a Loved One is Dying

  Anticipatory grief about the end of a loved one’s life can be an overwhelming experience. So many complex emotions. Such a sense of powerlessness. Subconsciously, the family and friends of the dying person will seek order and predictability at a time when there just isn’t any. Anticipatory grief often leads to decisions made or words spoken that inadvertently cause hurt feelings, misunderstandings, and conflict. Anticipatory grief is different for everyone, just as everyone’s relationship with a person dying is unique. Try to connect to compassion over judgment during times of anticipatory grief, to create space for each person to have time, […]

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When You’re Dying Before Your Children are Grown

  No one dreams of dying before their children are grown. No parent envisions leaving their children before they reach milestones and become contributing, independent adults. Yet, sadly, tragically, it happens. My mom died soon after I graduated from college. She and I were very close. We had many conversations as she was dying, some silly and some serious, about life and about death. She would not, perhaps more likely could not, accept the reality that she would never see me complete my education, find a career, fall in love, get married and become a mother. I will share some […]

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Remembering the ‘Lasts’

  The last words spoken. The last touch. The last meal shared. The last laugh. The last show watched. The lasts…moments and interactions that would otherwise go unnoticed in everyday life now sacred. Memories that, when lucky, we wish to bottle and protectively hold on a shelf. Untouched for eternity. Never dimmed. Never forgotten. Accessible to us, for us, always. Remembering those lasts can at times feel unbearable, oppressive, truly unendurable. IF ONLY I HAD KNOWN, I would have…I could have…I should have…. The magical thinking of grief and loss. Don’t get stuck there. In time, when the bevy of […]

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