Drama Therapy Techniques

How can we as professionals work deeply with the grief of our clients when words are not enough?  This experiential module offers one novel answer in the form of drama therapy techniques adapted for individual and group bereavement interventions.  Dramatic actions in therapy help bring to life invisible dimensions of the experience that cannot be […]

Compassion-Based Therapy

Compassion-based approaches have been widely supported through recent research in the field with diverse populations. These approaches are of specific interest in bereavement due to their capacity-building effect for clinicians and clients alike. Training in compassion has demonstrated enhanced ability to tolerate distress, maintain focus, and discern clinical interventions that are appropriate for clients in […]

Sociopolitical Grief: Grieving the Loss of Our World

With the current political climate and the deepening divisions and polarization that accompany it, people often talk about grief that originates in social and political structures but is felt in a profoundly personal way.  Sociopolitical grief includes the direct losses that are experienced by individuals as a result of political policies, ideologies, and oppression enacted […]

Non-Death Loss II

Grief is a natural and nearly universal response to the death of a loved one.  But what is less recognized is that it is also a response to circumstances that have far less social recognition and support—the loss of health to illness or injury, the demise of relationships through betrayal or separation, the erosion of […]

Non-Death Loss I

Grief certainly occurs after the death of someone we love, but it also manifests in the midst of losses that may not be as obvious or easily described.  These are living losses — the loss experiences and their accompanying ambiguity that we must learn to live with as we continue with our lives.  Some living […]

Grief and the Expressive Arts: Activating the Creative Imagination

Significant loss, including but not limited to bereavement, can disrupt our practical identities, dislodge relationships with others, and alter our experience of belonging in place and time.  Adaptive grieving involves reconstructing a world of meaning that is enacted in the physical and social environment and shaped by cultural scripts.  Aesthetic activities are embodied and help […]