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 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, Kuala Lumpur, 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 International School of Kuala Lumpur, among others.

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.