Recorded Training

Transformed by Loss:
Art Therapy Self-Portraits & the Redefined Self

This module, rooted in art therapy theory and Neimeyer’s Meaning Reconstruction theory, introduces the use of self-portraiture with grieving clients. After a significant loss, the grievers often experience an altered sense of self and the world, and need to reconstruct a cohesive life narrative that is inclusive of their pre-loss and post-loss identities. The creation of a self portrait can be transformational for grieving clients, allowing them to explore their shifted sense of self and engage in the meaning making process. Art therapy case studies of a child, adolescent, and adult will be presented. Visually rich and deeply personal creations will highlight the expansive and varied potential therapeutic benefits of self-portraiture in the grieving process, which can include validation of non-death losses that are secondary to bereavement. This module will additionally explore examples in art history of artists who utilized self-portraiture to process losses, and review the usage of self-portraits across clinical disciplines to assess a client’s self-image and further treatment. An experiential component, with no artistic skill required, will allow learners to engage as they choose to creatively explore aspects of the self.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Summarize the potential repercussions of a significant loss upon the identity of the grieving client;
Identify three unique functions of self-portraiture that foster therapeutic growth and processing;
Discuss the ways that self-portraits may be used to create a cohesive self narrative as a central process of meaning reconstruction; and
Describe self-portraiture for the grievers to foster the tenets of meaning reconstruction, including bracing, pacing, and facing, sense making, and benefit finding.

Earn Credit for 1 Case Study toward
Certification in Art-Assisted Grief Therapy
or Certification in Grief Therapy for Non-Death Losses
Offered by the Portland Institute.

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

This program contains the following video segments:

Grief and the Shifted Self: A Case Illustration (44 mins)
On Kollwitz and Kahlo: Historical Self-Portraits of Loss (46 mins)
Case Conceptualization: Processing the Portrait (50 mins)
Our Methods, Ourselves: Creating and Sharing Self-Portraits (35 mins)