Laura Basili

Laura is a fantastic professor. She shares stories from her own clinical experience, which makes the course really engaging. We did a few personal narrative papers, which were very manageable. We also did a group presentation project where we selected a book to read and presented a summary. Overall, I'd highly recommend this course to psych majors/minors.

Originally I took this class cause the reviews said "easy elective," "lecture-based," "no exams," etc. While some of this may be true, there was so much depth that came with it. For those looking to work in fields where they are dealing with grief, trauma, illness, terminal conditions, and even death, rather than looking at them from just a "medical" point of view, we dove into these concepts and emotions from the perspective of patients, families, and their surrounding support systems. Now, lectures were reading heavy, long, and were expected to be accompanied with in-class discussion and I know it can be difficult, even for me, but I encourage others when you can, to participate in discussions because I had some of my most heartfelt conversations and discussions, at Midd, came from this class; with other students and Dr. Basili, in and out of class. You will meet guest lecturers, present and be presented amazing literature, and have a blast being in the presence of Dr. Basili. (Also I took this Spring 25, the website tweaking).

Originally I took this class cause the reviews said "easy elective," "lecture-based," "no exams," etc. While some of this may be true, there was so much depth that came with it. For those looking to work in fields where they are dealing with grief, trauma, illness, terminal conditions, and even death, rather than looking at them from …Read more

This course is so valuable regardless of your major/career trajectory. You learn so much about grieving, death as a process, loss, and empathy. I would recommend this course to everyone -- Laura is amazing.