About the Speaker
Lauren Shure, PhD, LMHC
Lauren Shure currently serves as a Professor of Counseling and Associate Dean of the Department of Counseling and School Psychology at Barry University. She holds a B.S. in psychology, M.Ed. and Ed.S.in marriage and family counseling, and Ph.D. in counselor education with a specialization in mental health counseling from the University of Florida. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Qualified Supervisor (LMHC-QS) in Florida. She has extensive experience in crisis intervention and the treatment of trauma and is a Certified Complex Trauma Professional Level II (CCTP-II). Her additional professional interests include diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) coaching and training, resilience in LGBTQIA+ youth and families, and inclusive teaching and learning practices in higher education.
Speaker Sessions
- EST
When Differences Divide Us: Relational Loss Across Social and Political Divides
Political and social divisions increasingly extend beyond public discourse and into clients’ closest relationships. Differences involving elections, war, identity, immigration, public health, and other deeply held concerns may contribute to ruptured friendships, family estrangement, exclusion from communities, and a diminished sense of safety and belonging. Yet these experiences are not always recognized or understood as grief.
This webinar will examine relational losses associated with social and political division through the lenses of ambiguous loss, disenfranchised grief, relational rupture, and belonging. Participants will learn culturally responsive strategies for helping clients name and process these losses, regulate emotionally charged responses, clarify their values, needs, and boundaries, and determine whether repair, renegotiation, protective distance, or release is the safest and most appropriate path forward.
At the end of the session, participants will be able to:
1. Understand ambiguous loss, disenfranchised grief, relational rupture, and trauma as they may arise from social or political conflict.
2. Apply at least three interventions that help clients process relational grief, regulate distress, clarify values, and make intentional decisions about boundaries and reconnection.
3. Identify biases and countertransference that may interfere with culturally responsive care when clients express politically or morally charged perspectives.
