Jennifer Moran Stritch, Ireland
Academic Role
Jennifer Moran Stritch is a lecturer in the Department of Applied Social Sciences at Limerick Institute of Technology. Jennifer lectures in Personal Development and Challenging Behaviour modules and created the Working with Older People/Positive Ageing elective module in 2015 as part of the BA (Hons) in Social Care Work degree programme.
In addition to teaching at LIT, Jennifer is a module coordinator for the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland/Irish Hospice Foundation MSc in Bereavement Studies and has guest lectured at Maynooth University, National University of Ireland – Galway, Mary Immaculate College Limerick and University of Limerick Graduate Entry Medical School.
Having trained as a social worker in the United States, she is a frequent speaker and workshop facilitator in Ireland and internationally on death education and experiences of loss across the lifespan.
Research and Community Engagement
Jennifer is the founder and primary principal investigator for the Loss and Grief Research Group, part of the Social Sciences ConneXions Research Institute. Jennifer has received research bursaries from the Institutes of Technology Ireland, ISAX Smart Ageing, Embrace FARM, Limerick Institute of Technology and Limerick City of Culture. Now in its 7th year, the Loss and Grief Research group has had eight postgraduate students completing MA and PhD research programmes.
Some of the research topics engaged with include: explorations of grandparental grief when raising their grandchildren, older people’s experiences of resilience in difficult times, the benefits of creative therapies for grieving children, adapted Irish dance for people living with dementia, use of suicide support websites and the loss and grief experienced by older transgender women and their families.
In November 2015, Jennifer hosted “Death Cafe Limerick”, the first Death Cafe event in Ireland outside of Dublin. The Death Café movement is an international social franchise that attempts to explore and celebrate all aspects of mortality. Some of the community engagement projects she has led include workshops on loss and grief and creativity in death education for the Irish Association of Social Workers, Social Care Ireland, Irish Arts + Health, Beaumont Hospital, Sisters of Mercy International, Children’s Grief Centre Ireland, Limerick Youth Service, Clare Youth Service, Daughters of Charity Ireland, Limerick-Clare Education and Training Board, the Irish Hospice Foundation and the International Compassionate Communities Summit. Jennifer has hosted or co-hosted more than twenty Death Café events, including several virtual Death Cafes due to Covid restrictions for the Limerick Lifelong Learning Festival, Limerick Samhain Festival and National Science Week in 2020.
Professional Networks
Jennifer is a member of the Association for the Study of Death and Society, the Irish Childhood Bereavement Network, Dementia Research Network Ireland and is a Certified Thanatologist (CT) with the Association for Death Education and Counselling. She is the former chair of the Midwest Traveller Health Unit committee for the HSE Office of Social Inclusion and represents Limerick Institute of Technology on the Clare Age Friendly Alliance Board.
Jennifer Moran Stritch, MSW
Contact Details Jennifer.stritch@lit.ie Phone: 011-353-85-726-6830
Twitter: @stritchj and @sscatLIT (Social Sciences ConneXions Research Institute)
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifermoranstritch/