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 dynamics provides insight into the fluctuating dyadic processes that can prompt relational and individual resilience.

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Expanding on the relational states presented in a previous module on the Relational Window of Tolerance, this module will demonstrate specific therapeutic interventions, such as encouraging attunement between partners, facilitating couple responsiveness, harmonizing fragility and stability, and enacting resonance with a couple in the aftermath of their daughter’s death.  Clinical videos illustrate key moments of therapy that expand the couple’s tolerance for grief through coregulatory interaction, relieving both partners of the burden they experienced in an imbalanced state.  Cultural factors that impact couple coregulation will be presented as well.  Learners will complete the training with more strategic flexibility in addressing different grieving styles in joint sessions.​

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Note:  This 3-hour CE module focuses on topics related to psychological practice, education, or research other than application of psychological assessment and/or intervention methods that are supported by contemporary scholarship grounded in established research procedures.

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Apply practical strategies for supporting couples through the varied relational states of the grieving process;

• Describe how grief complicates processes of attunement and responsiveness in couple relationships; and 

• Narrate coregulatory processes of couple interaction as they occur in joint therapy sessions.

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Note:  Attendance of this Live Online Training session confers credit of 1 Case Study Module required for Certification in Grief Therapy as Meaning Reconstruction or Certification in Family-Focused Grief Therapy.

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COURSE PACK PROVIDES

• A PDF copy of the presentation slides;

• Copy of the graph of the Relational Window of Tolerance; and 

• A table of responsive strategies and summary of interventions.

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TARGET AUDIENCE

• Psychologists, social workers, counselors, art / music / expressive arts therapists, pastoral care personnel, healthcare professionals, bereavement volunteers

• To qualify for the 3 CE Credits, please kindly note that:

  • Full attendance of the entire session is required to receive CE credits.  No partial credit is awarded.

  • You are required to complete a CE quiz after the session.  An overall score of 75% or higher within three attempts is required to obtain CE credits.

  • The certificate of CE credits will be issued to you upon your submission of a participant evaluation form.

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INSTRUCTIONAL LEVEL

• Intermediate

 

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

This program contains the following segments:

• The Relational Window of Tolerance:  A Review (25 min.)

• The Imbalanced Couple:  The Case of Needing to “Be Strong” (15 min.)

• Encouraging Attunement:  Analysis of Video 1 (35 min.) ​

• Facilitating Responsiveness:  Analysis of Video 2 (35 min.)

• Harmonizing Fragility and Stability:  Analysis of Video 3 (35 min.)

• Enacting Resonance:  Analysis of Video 4 (35 mins.)

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WEBINAR TIMING

• 9am-12pm, PDT, Portland, OR, that corresponds to 12-3pm in Eastern Time, 4-7pm in Greenwich Mean Time and 5-8pm in Central European Time.

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Note:  The Zoom link and learning materials will be emailed to the registrants in due course.

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Disclosure Statement

This recorded module is not supported financially by a manufacturer of any commercial product and there is no sale of any product or publication during the live training session.  There is no known conflict of interest for this CE module or the presenting faculty.