My Connections & Hope Work
Podcasts (as a guest)
Teenagers Untangled - Suicide: How to Talk to Teens and Support
Sea Change - Suicide Prevention Begins in Kindergarten
Amorte - Life is a Celebration Podcast (to be released soon)
Documentary
Talking OutLOUD – Teens & Suicide Loss: A Conversation -
co-developed, group facilitator, resource developer
This award-winning documentary film project delivers a desperately needed message of hope and healing directly from teens to their peers/released November 2023
Webinars, Facilitated Workshops, Presentations, Speaking Engagements
Developed, designed, and facilitated this online seminar on surviving grief/loss to suicide with over four hundred international registrants
Webinar in partnership with Samaritans, Inc
December 2023
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Suiting Up to Prevent Suicide in Young Men of Color
This presentation at the American Association of Suicidology Conference shared the efforts to develop individualized and contextualized suicide prevention workshops for young men of color in the Boston area
Presentation in collaboration with Follow Suit & Samaritans, Inc.
Las Vegas, Nevada
April 2024
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Healing Together: Insights from Suicide Loss Survivors
Part of a panel of suicide loss survivors sharing our personal journey of grief/loss as well as reflections on what helped and what hurt and the path forward
Webinar/Panel discussion in parentship with Samaritans, Inc.
October 2024
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Supporting Grieving Teens & Young Adults After a Loss to Suicide
Building compassionate, empathetic care after a loss to suicide through practical skills and insights that honor young people’s unique voices
Webinar in partnership with Coping After Suicide & The Kita Center
November 2024
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Supporting Teens After a Suicide Loss
As part of International Suicides Loss Survivors Day programming, hosted a screening of the documentary Talking OutLOUD followed by a panel discussion including a teen from the film.
Panel discussion and peer group support in partnership with Coping After Suicide & Samaritans, Inc
November 2024
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Who Am I Now
The impact on our self and our identity after a loss to suicide
In-person workshop at the Long-Term Loss Survivor's Conference
Austin, Texas, July 2024
Webinar in partnership with Coping After Suicide
November 2024
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Braiding the Past & the Present: Navigating Unfinished Business in Grief
A reflective workshop exploring how we reconcile loss through writing, mindfulness, and creative expression. Using a framework of Hope, participants will address lingering emotions, connect past and present, and find peace on their grief journey.
In-person workshop at the Being with Grief weekend retreat in partnership with Chaplaincy Institute of Maine (ChIME)
Standish, ME, April 2025
Conferences (Attended & Presented)
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Connecticut Suicide Prevention Conference: Keynote: Who Am I Now? Identity, Community, and the Full Arc of Suicide Prevention · Connecticut Suicide Prevention Conference/Hartford, CT/May 2026
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NAMI Maine Annual Conference - Keynote: Compassionate Communities: Where Prevention, Postvention, and Healing Meet/Auburn, ME/April 2026
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National Alliance for Children's Grief Sympsosium/Kansas City, KS, June, 2025
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LOSS Conference/Columbus, OH/October 2024 (presenter)
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American Association of Suicidology Annual Conference/ Chicago, IL, April 2022, Portland, OR April 2023, Las Vegas, NV, April 2024 (presenter)
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Grief Therapy for Traumatic Loss: A Meaning-Focused Approach/workshop hosted by National Alliance for Mental Health (NAMI) Maine, June 2024
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Long-Term Loss Survivors of Suicide Conference/Cleveland, OH, July 2022, Austin, TX, July 2024 (speaker)
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ASCD Leadership Summit on Educator Mental Health and Wellness/Virtual January 2021
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International Network of Early Career Researchers in Suicide and Self-Harm Conference/Virtual November 2020
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Healing Milestones: Recognizing Complicated Grief/American Foundation for Suicide Prevention/Virtual November 2020
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Emotional Intelligence Conference/Oji Life Lab and the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence/Virtual August 2020
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People of Color Conference: Before, Beyond: Amplifying Our Intelligence to Liberate, Co-Create, and Thrive/Seattle, WA/December 2019
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Learning and the Brain Conference: Educating Anxious Brains/ Educating with Empathy/San Francisco, CA/February 2019 & 2020
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Learning and the Brain Conference: Educating Mindful Minds/ New York City, NY/April 2018
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Responsive Classroom: Leadership Conference/Cambridge, MA/October 2017
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Meet Steven
Steven Karaiskos, PhD, is an educator and national leader in suicide prevention, grief support, and community-based emotional well-being. He serves as Director of Postvention & Community Programs at The Kita Center, a restorative community in Maine dedicated to honoring the lived experience of individuals and families impacted by suicide loss, where he designs and leads grief-informed retreats, peer support initiatives, educator learning, and community programs across the lifespan. This year, in the inaugural season of The Kita Center's new 28-acre home on Loon Pond in Acton, Maine, Steven developed and facilitated the Young Adult Resilience Retreat, the Family Resilience Retreat, and the Men's Resilience Retreat, and introduced the Healing Walk, a monthly guided grief walk through the woods of Loon Pond. He also developed Navigating Grief in the Classroom: Learning Through Loss, a six-part professional development program for educators, released in partnership with the Maine CDC and Maine Department of Education and available virtually to schools nationally and internationally.
With more than 25 years of experience in education, Steven has taught at every developmental level, from Pre-K and Kindergarten classrooms to high school, college, and graduate education. His work in schools has spanned classroom teaching, social-emotional learning, behavior and classroom management, support of students with learning differences, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice initiatives. He has trained and mentored educators and supported students, parents, and administrators across public and independent school settings. His early career as an early childhood educator continues to shape his approach to emotional development, belonging, and care, grounding his work in developmentally responsive, relational practice.
Steven previously served as Senior Director of Community Education & Outreach at Samaritans, a Boston-based suicide prevention and grief support organization, where he led regional and national initiatives focused on suicide prevention, postvention, and grief literacy. His work has included developing suicide prevention programming for schools, supporting communities following suicide deaths, facilitating peer grief support groups through Coping After Suicide, and contributing to the award-winning documentary Talking OutLOUD: Teens & Suicide Loss, A Conversation.
As the founder of Elpis Consulting, Coaching & Community Building, Steven collaborates with schools, nonprofits, and community organizations to support educators, students, and families in building emotionally safe, inclusive, and connected environments. Through a deep and ongoing collaboration with Sea Change Mentoring and its founder Ellen Mahoney, Steven has worked internationally with school communities across Riyadh, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Prague, and beyond, supporting educators and students navigating well-being, belonging, crisis, and trauma. His work integrates research from psychology, neuroscience, and social-emotional learning with lived experience, emphasizing dignity, belonging, and relational resilience.
Steven holds a BA in English, a BS in Education, an MA in Psychology, and a PhD in Psychology, with doctoral research focused on positive psychological approaches to suicidal ideation. He has taught psychology at the university level and is a frequent keynote speaker, facilitator, and writer. In 2026, he delivered keynotes at the NAMI Maine Annual Conference and the Connecticut Suicide Prevention Conference, and has presented for the Near East South Asia Council of Overseas Schools (NESA) and the Connecticut National Guard.
Steven lost his partner, David, to suicide in 2009, an experience that continues to inform his commitment to compassionate, honest, and human-centered approaches to grief and healing. He writes regularly on grief, identity, and emotional life through his Substack, Still Becoming. He lives in Kennebunk, Maine, and when he is not working, he can be found writing, traveling, walking in the woods, reading a good mystery, and occasionally watching Nordic Noir.
About Elpis
In Greek, Elpis means hope. In considering his Greek heritage as well as reflecting on the theme of both his professional and personal life, Steven chose Elpis, hope. Elpis, hope, is kindling for your fire. Hope is the gathering of your supports, your reasons, your strength, your intentions, your self-efficacy - as an individual, a school, an organization, a community; to build your sustaining fire of creativity, inspiration, and warmth that lights and amplifies yourself and your well-being.
