Aging, Ageism, and Care: Exploring the Needs of Families and Elders
We are living in a time when people are living longer, but they are also living longer with complex health issues, care needs, and greater dependence on the health care system and families. While the increase in longevity is something that allows for elders to be a part of the lives of several generations that […]
Grief Therapy Learning Retreat
Join us in Bainbridge Island, Seattle, WA, USA, for our 5-Day / 4-Night Grief Therapy Learning Retreat that offers close access to a selection of internationally renowned Portland Institute faculty and guest speakers, who provide substantial training in the latest research and practice on meaning-oriented grief therapy approaches. Drawing on a blend of systematic instruction, […]
When Dying Is Well Accompanied: A Quest for Meaning in Terminal Illness
13-14 July 2026 Singapore Presented by REGISTER NOW EARLY BIRD till 1 June 2026 Just SGD$900 for 2-day workshop! (Inclusive of lunch & 2 tea breaks) Earn Credits for 2 Orientation Modules and 2 Techniques Modules toward Certification in Meaning-Focused Grief Therapy or Certification in Family-Focused Grief Therapy Offered by the Portland Institute. In the face of […]
Emotion Co-Regulation
Though grief is widely considered a family affair, how can therapists best promote both personal and interpersonal resilience in a field dominated principally by individualistic theories? Approaching this question from a systemic perspective, meaning can be viewed as a fundamental principle of resilience and shared meaning has the potential to bring families and communities together. […]
Constructing Relational Resilience
How do couples support each other when they are both simultaneously grieving the loss of a child? Grief can create either connection or isolation in couple relationships, as parents cope with the gravity of their own tragedy while also bearing witness to their partner’s suffering and pain. A research-based systemic perspective on bereaved couples’ coregulatory […]
Circles of Care
Facing the end of a life is full of losses. Professional care providers have a responsibility to guide families facing end of life, but often feel ill equipped for this intimate and demanding role. Together, we will explore how to utilize relevant grief related concepts, such as anticipatory grief, chronic sorrow, non-finite loss, the Dual […]
Captured in Box of Pain
When a client seems to be “frozen” in grief across a period of years or even decades, delicate work with the “back story” of the relationship and complicating dimensions of the continuing bond is often called for. This video case study examines an adult daughter’s ongoing anguish about her mother’s death, to a level that […]
Adult Sib Loss
The loss of an adult sibling is a deeply personal and often overlooked grief experience, leaving many adult surviving siblings feeling disenfranchised in their mourning. The first half of this module will explore the unique nature of adult sibling loss and how the back story and shared narrative of this special relationship is impacted by […]
The Relational Window of Tolerance: Systemic Assessment of Bereaved Couples
The Relational Window of Tolerance describes how couples negotiate individual and relational coping when grieving the loss of a child. Depending on the individual coping styles of each partner, couples may enter imbalanced, dual-fragile, or coregulatory relational states throughout their grieving process. Each of these relational states, identified and exemplified in recent research, helps the couple to […]
Expressive Storytelling
Life-changing loss, especially in its tragic forms, can break life stories as well as hearts. Expressive Storytelling supports a bereaved person’s adaptation to loss by gathering the shattered pieces, placing them on a chronological timeline, and retelling the crucial details through a therapeutic writing structure that encourages reconciliation and healing. After my father’s death, I […]