Class Descriptions
BYU Conference Center (CONF)
Harman Continuing Education Building (HCEB)
770 E University Pkwy, Provo UT 84602
Driving and parking instructions
Friday Morning
Genevieve and Zachary Fredrickson
With a mix of storytelling, practical tools, and spiritual insights, the Fredricksons will share a message of hope and healing. Through their personal experiences with loss and the development of Grieving with the Savior, a grief and loss support group, the Fredricksons have learned the value of connection in the healing journey and have been witnesses to the ways the Savior seeks after the one.
Tiffany Hebb
Join Tiffany for a gentle heart-opening yoga practice focused on the healing power of the breath. Grief is often held in the body, especially in the lungs, and mindful breathing helps release tension, calm the mind, and open the wounded heart. Through guided breathwork, gentle movement, and quiet reflection, participants will connect with the spirit of the breath, experience cleansing and renewal, and feel peace while sensing the presence of their loved ones and the comforting power of Jesus Christ.
Kelli Anderson
Loss and trauma can affect individuals emotionally and spiritually in deeply personal ways. This presentation explores how healing after loss and trauma often unfolds through emotional seasons—storm, clearing, and sunshine—and how individuals can walk through these seasons by intentionally drawing upon faith, healing resources, and hope in Jesus Christ. Emphasis is placed on compassionate understanding, intentional support, and trust in the Savior’s steady presence throughout the healing journey.
Gerrit Dirkmaat
The future Resurrection of all people was one of Joseph Smith’s favorite doctrines. He preached about it often. Personally acquainted with the grief associated with the loss of children, family members, and friends, Joseph knew that the Resurrection would eventually heal the wounds created by loss that do not feel like they can ever be healed. This presentation will share some of those teachings, including the vision the Prophet had of the great day of the Resurrection.
Akasha Balkman and Melissa Carlton
This class explores how the Lord lovingly ministers to the bereaved through both earthly and heavenly angels. Participants will reflect on the healing power of shared grief and the ways God often comforts us through earthly angels, people who walk alongside us in loss. The class will also explore the doctrine of heavenly angels and how tender mercies, impressions, and sacred experiences of continued connection with loved ones can strengthen faith and bring peace through Jesus Christ.
Robbie Taggart
Alma's sermon on the seed in Alma 32 asserts that much spiritual growth happens in darkness and silence, in the soil beneath the surface. This class explores how we can see the dark circumstances of our lives as places where godliness can grow within us. We will discuss how we can actively nourish God's hopeful word in our souls as we simultaneously wait with trust and patience for grace-given growth and ultimate peace.
Carrie Moore
This session will focus on the unique—and often contradictory—needs of teens who are dealing with the loss of a parent or sibling. Anger (at you, at God, and at the universe), fear, sadness, depression, and isolating and finding a “quick fix” for their pain (often an unhealthy one) are among the most common challenges teens try to navigate when a family member dies. Please join us for an honest discussion about some of life’s most raw and difficult emotions—and how you can help.
Friday Afternoon
Angie Dean
Grief doesn’t always move in a straight line. Sometimes it lingers in the body, the nervous system, and our sense of self. This presentation explores complex grief through a gentle, trauma-informed lens, helping you connect to physical sensations, emotions, thoughts, and identity changes after loss. You’ll learn practical, body-based and emotional coping skills to support regulation, healing, and self-understanding.
Becky Beck
"Men are, that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25). Even in the midst of grief, Jesus Christ offers peace, comfort, and hope. This presentation introduces the Grief Cycle—a simple framework to make room for the Savior to heal your broken heart, sanctify the sorrow you carry, and help you find joy that can exist alongside your grief. Together, we’ll learn how to navigate the stages of grief and become anchored to Jesus Christ.
Marie Ricks
This class will invite couples to consider their own grief as it relates to their spouse's grief as to type, duration, timing, dimension, and consequences to their relationship, their interactions with others, and their future together as a couple. The focus will be on psychoeducation, what practices to reduce or eliminate, what to engage in, and how to develop skills for a healthier grief journey—in addition to general authorities' comments and scriptural quotes.
Marie Ricks
This class adds to the Suicidal Loss Grief Journey class and focuses on principles and practices that will help along a healthier suicidal loss grief journey with psychoeducation, what practices to reduce or eliminate, what to engage in, and how to develop skills for finding eventual peace and security in the promises of the scriptures and the general authorities' perspectives.
Marie Ricks
This class is a prelude to the Recovering from Suicidal Loss class and focuses on the grief and loss experiences, challenges, and opportunities associated with the trauma of suicidal loss with psychoeducation, what practices to reduce or eliminate, what to engage in, and how to develop skills for a healthier grief journey after suicide loss—in addition to general authorities' perspectives and scriptural quotes.
Matthew Anderson
At times we may feel that experiencing grief is a lack of faith. Perhaps someone has said to you, “That is really hard, but at least you know where your loved one is.” In this session we will discuss how grief, sorrow, and loss are not incongruous with faith, comfort, peace and joy, and may even enhance our experience on our journey to learn more of the nature of our Father in Heaven.
Saturday Morning
David Mickelson and Kori Andrews
This class explores how experiences with loss can lead to deeper connection with others and with the Savior. Drawing from lessons shared by more than 50 guests on the Grief and Belief podcast, we’ll highlight patterns of healing in spiritual practices, community support, and personal mindset. Participants will leave with hope, practical perspective, and a clearer sense of how Christ meets us in grief and turns pain into connection and purpose.
Susan Walton
Sometimes, to guard ourselves from hurt, provide structure in the middle of chaos, or even just meet all the demands of our lives, it’s all too easy to build a fortress around ourselves. This is especially true for widows and widowers. These fortresses can provide protection and structure. But, taken too far, they can also deprive us of opportunities to form relationships, experience new things, serve and be served, and participate in the life of the Church. And when the fortresses we’ve built begin to isolate us from others, it’s time to start thinking about lowering the drawbridge.
This presentation will explore how to recognize when our fortresses are beginning to pull us away from others, rather than protect us. It will also discuss some practical strategies for engaging or re-engaging with people and experiences that can help us become more Christlike and find joy.
Sister Susan Balcom Walton developed this presentation based on experiences in her own life. Early in her widowhood, Sister Walton saw the need to form stronger relationships with the people around her. She sought advice by conducting a year-long series of lunches with fellow widows who offered perspectives about how to combat isolation and remain engaged. Her comments in this presentation are based on the advice and experiences shared by these wise women.
Ken Alford
Ken will share some of his personal experiences with loss and grief. He will also share some faith-promoting true stories that illustrate the importance and blessing of understanding and accepting that God fulfills some of His promises to us quickly, some after making us wait for a while, and some only after this life. Please come join us!
David Mickelson
What will future generations know about the people they never met? This presentation invites participants to experience how FamilySearch can help preserve the lives and stories of loved ones—and how the act of remembering and recording can be a source of healing.
Steve Eastmond
This class is aimed at helping individuals whose faith is tested or shaken by the excruciating pain of losing a loved one. We will strive to normalize the experience of having questions, fears, and even doubts arise when we lose someone we love. The class will be geared from there to provide support and practical advice for recovering hope, strengthening faith, and finding God in the adversity of loss.
Jordan Robertson
This class will acquaint you with a wealth of children’s literature available to help you process loss with your children. There are books focused on specific loss (mother, father, sibling), workbooks for grieving children, and books that highlight the reality of an afterlife and reunion. In the class we will explore these resources and focus on the many tools God has given for the healing of his little ones. We will also have a Q&A on the grief experience of young children.
Saturday Afternoon
Tiffany Hebb
Loss affects every single part of our physical bodies. This session will delve into the physical and emotional patterns of grief, such as stress responses, fatigue, insomnia, and the tension grief can place on the body. You will also learn how to use many supportive self-care tools—such as mindfulness, affirmations, and meditation—which can help the body find balance throughout the grieving process.
Patti Merrill
After profound loss, faith does not always bring peace or understanding. This message explores how divine companionship—rather than answers—can hold us through grief that resists timelines, resolution, and easy meaning-making.
Gina and Ellie Oliverson
Gina and Ellie speak about life after suicide, recognizing tender mercies in the darkest seasons, and the sacred work of making purpose from pain. Their story is one of grief—but even more, it is a story of faith, endurance, and choosing light.
Kathryn Cunningham
When I found out that my son had fallen at school and was unresponsive, I prayed for a miracle. God didn’t grant me the miracle I prayed for, but He did send me the miracles I needed. During those first heart-wrenching days and through the years of grief that have followed, I have reached out again and again to Heavenly Father, seeking miracles, and he has never failed to deliver.
Mitch Simkins
Amidst pain and loss, money questions have a way of piling on. Maybe you’re wondering if you’ll have enough. What truly needs your attention right now? What can wait? And what support is available to you? This interactive and engaging workshop answers these questions and gives you practical tools and resources to reduce the financial load. Mitch is a financial expert who has walked with widowed women for over 20 years. He understands how heavy and overwhelming this season can feel. You’ll leave with a renewed sense of confidence in yourself, a clearer understanding of your next steps, and a simple, compassionate checklist for what to handle now and what you can safely set aside.
Tanya Kimball
Stuck in Saturday . . . but Sunday Will Come is a message for those walking through grief and the long-waiting seasons of life. It honors the pain of the in-between while lifting our eyes to the hope of the resurrection—reminding us that even in God’s silence, His promises are unfolding, and Sunday is coming.
Jason Clawson
Grief is not one-size-fits-all, and it was never meant to be. This presentation explores grief as a deeply personal and sacred experience, inviting you to step away from comparison, timelines, and expectations that quietly add more pain. You will discover why your grief looks the way it does, how meaning can grow even in sorrow, and how to honor your unique journey without guilt, pressure, or the need to measure up. This session offers permission, perspective, and hope, meeting grief exactly where it is and allowing it to become something deeply personal, meaningful, and your own.