The College of Business and Social Sciences’ gerontology program hosted a discussion panel with the topic, “Grief Management: Effects on Health and Well-being.”

The discussion was held on the seventh floor of the library.

ULM has the only gerontology program in Louisiana.

Dr. Anita Sharma, along with the rest of the gerontology program, feel that it’s their “responsibility to get the word out about gerontology, especially in our state.”

The program has seven concentrations, one being grief care management. The program organized this event to “point out how grief affects our life if it is not handed positively.”

Sharma, the program director, is very passionate about the effects of grief and how society views the subject.

“We organize this panel of discussion to help students understand that grief is a very significant emotion, which if not handled the right way, can create a lot of short-term problems in our lives and in the long run,” Sharma said.

Sharma also compared grief to “a wound that is not healed” which will continue to worsen if not appropriately treated.

The five panel members consisted of students, faculty and staff.

The members discussed topics such as family illness, death of a loved one, personal illness or general experience with the subject. All experiences discussed led to a hard journey of overcoming the many steps of grief.

Each panelist shared their life experiences, personal issues of grief and the effect it has had on their life today.

Audience member Pantara Simpson was touched by the panelists’ emotional journeys, and will take what she learned from the discussion with them.

Simpson, a junior elementary education major, said “I never realized how much big of a topic grief actually was and how much it affects many people every day.”

All of the panelists had been through some traumatic event that caused them to suffer the many stages of grief which are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

However, they learned what processes to take to maintain their grief and not let it overcome their daily lives.

While grief can be compared to “a wound that is not healed,” one take away from the discussion panel was to remember to handle grief correctly, so the effects are not worse in the end.