Grief is a natural response to a significant loss of any kind—whether it’s a family separation or divorce, a big move, or the loss of a loved one. We all need to help each other as we navigate our grief. It is complicated and looks different for everyone. It may be hard to know how to support a teen or a young adult who is grieving. Join us this evening as we learn from Grief Counselor Sally Ensley and Founder and CEO of Young, Black and Widowed Azurae Johnson Redmond.
NASW CEUS ARE PENDING
$10 Suggested Donation for this session, all funds go to support our mission.
This session will be a hybrid event, you may join us in person or on zoom.
ABOUT OUR WONDERFUL PRESENTERS
Sally is a “hometown” girl, being born and raised in the Ringgold area. After graduating from Ringgold Hight School and UTC, she worked as a social worker with the state of Georgia before going to seminary in Kentucky. From seminary, Sally served a church in Providence, KY for six years as the Minister of Education and Families. Upon leaving there, she was called to Signal Mountain Baptist Church where she served in almost every position during the 28 years she was there. During those years, she earned a Master’s Degree in Professional Counseling. She worked as a Grief Counselor for Hospice of Chattanooga for three years and now works at Ringgold United Methodist Church and has a private practice. When not working, you will find Sally spending as much time as possible raising her two grandchildren, Savanah and Jaice.
Widowed-by-lung-cancer in 2017 at age 27, as well as 5 months pregnant with her 10-month-old's full little brother, Azurae Redmond, was always the demographic outlier of every typically conservative local widow group. Realizing there was a niche for young, black widow(er)s, who were underserved, she set out to found a new 501(c)3 nonprofit in 2020. Azurae has helped over 2000 widows and widowers globally since!
Young, Black & Widowed Inc. is a progressive 501(c)3 nonprofit, plus podcast, which connects Millennial & Generation Z widow(er)s of color to a daily one-on-one peer support line, engages widow(er)s in weekly grief support groups, educates widow(er)s about grief resources and survivor benefits, supports them and future generations with scholarships to impact their careers, gives them a creative outlet via the community podcast to express subjects like the mental exasperation of being isolated during Covid-19 as a widow(er), the challenges of solo-parent during a global pandemic, the disproportionate loss of life in the Black community, societal stigmas against LGBTQ+ people and racial injustices we all suffer within our everyday lives. In effort to deal with the physical and mental traumas widow(er)s face, the nonprofit links widow(er)s to professionals within their home cities, across the United States. All services are 100% free