This webinar will explore the connection between grief, substance use, systemic privilege, and punishment of pain. This session will unpack what grief really is, and how substance use can operate as a misunderstood coping mechanism for grief. Attendees will gain tools to reflect on their own biases about grief and substance use, as well as actionable strategies for shifting towards compassionate, trauma-informed ways of collectively supporting those who use substances to cope with grief.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how grief can manifest as substance use and other complex behaviors
- Recognize how privilege and identity impact responses to grief within systems
- Begin applying trauma-informed strategies to challenge personal bias and reframe assumptions
Presenters:
Christina Gallo (she/her) is a therapist, mental health educator, and advocate who believes healing comes from real connection and showing up for people when they need it most. With a Master’s in Counselling Psychology and over eight years of experience, she supports individuals through life’s hardest moments. Christina has worked closely with people facing serious mental health challenges and currently serves as a Mental Health Therapist and educator with the Canadian Mental Health Association in Toronto. She designs and leads workshops that break down stigma, open honest conversations, and create safe spaces for healing that feels human. When she is not working or in the therapy session, you’ll find Christina working out, rooting for her favourite sports teams, tending her garden, or finding peace by a bonfire
or lake.
Alex Boross-Harmer (they/them) is a registered social worker and kinesiologist and is the interim manager of mental health promotion and training at the Canadian Mental Health Association Toronto. A strategic thinker and change maker at heart, Alex has spent the last 15 years committed to learning how our system operates from as many lenses as possible with the goal of sharing this knowledge and cultivating loving, empowered community. This includes various roles in front line advocacy, hospital and healthcare navigation, secondary and post-secondary education, political work, private practice, and coalition building. Alex is an autistic, queer, trans, white settler in Tkaronto and has lived experience of
mental illness and trauma. When they are not geeking out on mental health education and policy change, they can be found having existential chats with strangers in coffee shops, doing yoga, and spending time with chosen family over good food.
Presented by the West Toronto Human Services and Justice Coordinating Committee on June 19, 2025.