Grief & Loss in Families I

Death is a crisis that all families will encounter and grief is a family affair.  In the aftermath of bereavement, no loss is experienced in a vacuum and no one is spared from its impact.  This module will equip learners to look at grief and loss through a meaning reconstruction lens, and appreciate the systemic […]

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 […]

Create, Destroy & Transform

This “user friendly” didactic and experiential module highlights the neurobiology of trauma as well as neurodevelopmental theories that inform expressive art therapy for complex trauma and prolonged grief disorder (PGD). Learners interested in art-based modalities are supported in best practices while planning empathetic and ethical treatment goals for clients suffering life-altering loss. Art therapy modalities […]

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 […]

Loss of Another, Loss of Self

As Thomas Attig might phrase it, grieving entails relearning the self and relearning the world, because both are challenged and changed by the significant loss of an intimate other.  In such cases, we may be deprived of crucial relationships that anchor our sense of who we are, lose parts of ourselves sustained by the attachment […]

Trauma-Informed Approach: Journaling and Embodied Dialogue

Adaptive grieving implies integrating the loss into our changed sense of who we are, as well as into the changed story of our lives.  In this module we consider two techniques for helping mourners discern the deeper significance of their experience, and in doing so identify the important needs and life lessons implicit in them. […]

Trauma-Informed Grief Therapy: Restorative Retelling

As contemporary models of bereavement have become more nuanced and empirically informed, so too have the practices available to counselors and therapists who work with complicated, prolonged and debilitating forms of grief.  This module offers in-depth training in several of these techniques, nesting them both within the therapy relationship and in the context of current […]

Attachment-Informed Approach II

Whether they are striving to restore a sense of secure attachment to a loved one lost to death or to resolve lingering relational issues with the deceased, mourners frequently need to reengage those they have lost rather than relinquish the bond and “move on.”  In this module, we will explore and practice several creative narrative, […]

Attachment-Informed Approach I

Death may end a life, but not necessarily a relationship.  Drawing on attachment-informed and Two-Track models of bereavement, we will begin by considering grieving as a process of reconstructing rather than relinquishing our bonds with those who have died, and the circumstances that can interfere with this natural process.  Clinical videos bearing on a range […]

Grief & Its Complications II

If you have completed Part l of this Core Course, you are acquainted with the distinction between adaptive grieving which moves forward from loss to its integration, sometimes with surprising resilience, and complicated, protracted and life-limiting responses to bereavement, such as Prolonged Grief Disorder. But beyond recognizing these latter struggles or syndromes, how can we […]