Memory boxes

In this module, learners will learn about the art therapy practice of creating memory boxes with bereaved patients.  As containers, boxes readily protect and hold memories, secrets, narratives, and emotions.  They provide a space for creating, storytelling, exploration and documentation.  Boxes come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and materials, and may be painted, decorated, […]

Death of A Partner

Spousal / partner loss is often experienced as a profound loss resulting in significant disruptions in one’s daily life and major changes in the social world.  Whether the couple relationship used to be loving and intimate or ambivalent and conflictual, the surviving spouse / partners commonly need to review their sense of identity, life goals […]

Addressing the Trauma of Suicide & Overdose Loss: Meaning-Focused Assessment & Therapy

Viewed through the lens of the Tripartite Model of Meaning Reconstruction in Loss, the death of a significant person by suicide presents profound narrative challenges to integrating the event story of the loss, reconciling the back story of the relationship with the deceased, and revising the personal story of the life of the survivor. In […]

Pre-Death Grief & Loss II

Foreseeing an impending loss of a significant person through a terminal illness often triggers emotional turmoil and challenging dynamics in relationships and families.  On top of the caregiving burden for the person with the terminal illness, family members and significant others also have to cope with their own intrapsychic distress in preparation for the eventual […]

Pre-Death Grief & Loss I

In the face of the bad news of being diagnosed with a terminal illness, patients often have to face both their own impending death and separation from their loved ones through different dying trajectories, which can be swift or protracted.  This complex emotional journey can trigger existential crisis, death anxiety and pre-death grief, in a […]

Heart to Heart

As someone with a desire to help people faced with significant loss, you’ve spent some time reading about grief and learning about the art and science of grief therapy. This base of essential knowledge is a foundation for the higher order skill set that you will develop through the experience of sitting with and providing […]

Grace in the Darkness

Loss, grief and mourning are ubiquitous human experiences that pervade the work of therapists, psychiatrists, counselors, and social workers alike.  Helping those who have experienced a significant loss can be challenging and confusing, largely because there is no single intervention that is well-suited for all individuals.  In what ways can we tailor our interventions to […]

Addressing Diversity in Grief & Loss: African American & Asian Perspectives

Although loss is a universal experience, how people of different cultures and subcultures accommodate it can be surprisingly diverse.  In this module, we consider several of these variations, noting ethnic differences in grieving styles as a function of several factors, such as religious world views, individualistic vs. collectivist values, socioeconomic resources, exposure to violence, access […]

The Reciprocal Grief Loop Framework: Clinical Recommendations for Supporting Widowed Parent–Bereaved Child Dyads

When a parent and spouse dies prematurely, the surviving spouse and child grieve distinct but interconnected losses.  The child loses a central attachment figure and source of security; the surviving parent loses an intimate partner and co-parent while simultaneously assuming primary responsibility for supporting a grieving child.  Although family bereavement research has demonstrated the importance […]

Who Am I Now Without You? A Toolkit for Self-Reconstruction in Bereavement

Although the death of a highly significant other naturally gives rise to grief over their loss, it also commonly confronts us with loss of parts of ourselves that were anchored in that relationship.  This 2-day workshop extends our previous training on the Loss of Another, Loss of the Self by expanding our clinical toolkit for addressing self-reconstruction […]