St. Maarten Voices to keynote Caribbean Griefology Conference in Barbados

GREAT BAY--Dr. Nicole E. Francis Cotton and Roy Cotton Jr. have been named featured keynote speakers at the Caribbean Griefology Conference 2026, joining a regional faculty for the November 12 to 15 gathering at the Hilton Barbados Resort.

The conference, being held under the theme “Rooted in Awareness, Healing, and Action,” will bring together practitioners, researchers, community leaders and advocates from across the Caribbean and its diaspora to strengthen culturally rooted approaches to grief, loss and healing.

Dr. Francis Cotton will open the conference with the Thursday plenary, “The Biology of Grief,” examining how loss affects the brain, nervous system and long-term physical health, while exploring links between unresolved grief and the chronic disease burden facing the region.

A Marriage and Family Therapist, trauma specialist and master therapist with 25 years of experience, Dr. Francis Cotton is founder and president of the Victorious Living Foundation. She co-developed the grief course for the University of the West Indies’ BSc in Social Work and developed the Master’s Counselling Degree program taught at Grace Hill Bible University’s St. Maarten Campus. She also teaches grief, suicide assessment and prevention within the curriculum.

Roy Cotton Jr., host of the syndicated radio program Love & Inspiration with Roy Cotton, Jr., will bring his experience in media, mental health and community engagement to the conference. His program reached first place on New York’s Bshani Radio with 1.9 million listeners. He also serves as a perinatal coach and co-therapist in marriage counselling at Victorious Living Foundation and has trained recruits within St. Maarten’s Ministry of Justice.

His work includes particular attention to the ways Caribbean men are often taught to remain silent about grief, loss and emotional pain, an issue that forms part of the wider regional conversation the conference aims to address.

“The Caribbean is not simply a region that needs help with grief,” said Dr. Francis Cotton. “We have been practising collective mourning for generations — our wakes here in St. Martin, Nine Nights in Jamaica, the drumming, our church services, the kitchens full of neighbours. What we have not always done is name it, study it, and offer it to the world as the resource it is. We have something significant to contribute to how humanity navigates dying, death and loss.”

The conference is convened by Dr. Jaycee Mayers, founder of host organization Reengineering Wellbeing Consultancy. Organizers say the gathering is intended to build a shared Caribbean language around grief while creating stronger links among professionals and communities working in mental health, bereavement and social support.

The event will also mark the official launch of the Collective Grief Toolkit, a new resource intended for Caribbean communities, practitioners and policymakers.

Early-bird registration closes Wednesday, September 30, at 11:59 p.m. Full conference rates range from BDS $650 to $850, equivalent to US $325 to $425, while day passes are BDS $275, or US $137.50.

Conference information is available at caribbeangriefology.manus.space, with tickets available through tixhub.app/event/caribbean-griefology-conference-2026.

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