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Certification

Level 1 Certification in Grief Therapy

Level 2 Certification

Meaning-Focused Grief Therapy (MFGT)

Family-Focused Grief Therapy (FFGT)

Grief Therapy for Non-Death Losses (NDL)

Art-Assisted Grief Therapy (AAGT)

Grief Therapy for Traumatic Loss (GTTL)

Training

In-Person Training

Working with Continuing Bonds in Grief Therapy: A Clinician’s Toolbox

When Dying Is Well Accompanied: A Quest for Meaning in Terminal Illness

Grief Therapy Learning Retreat

Live Online Training

Grief and the Expressive Arts: Activating the Creative Imagination

Recorded Training

Speakers Bureau

Contact

ACORN PLMS

Recorded Training

Materials & Methods:
Practicing with the Arts

Materials and Methods are foundational elements of the expressive arts and a requirement for the Art-Assisted Grief Therapy Certification (AAGT).  This orientation module is designed to acquaint learners with the language of the arts as it pertains to the properties of art materials and their applied use in a variety of settings with specific clients.  A working knowledge of the properties and possibilities of various art materials is necessary for determining their usefulness in practice.   

Three traditional art therapy materials grouped as drawing, painting and clay are explored on a diverse assortment of surfaces or containers.  Direct personal experience with the art materials will serve as the foundation for discussion both in small groups and with the whole group.  Presentations of specific theories as they relate to each of the groupings and case studies will round out the learners’ understanding of AAGT Materials and Methods:  Practicing with the Arts.

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.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

  • Discuss the properties of various media through experiential activities and personal reflection in small breakout room exercises;
  • Examine how selected two-dimensional art materials can be used as part of gaining new perspectives, restorative retelling and the meaning making process; and
  • Apply an understanding of two-dimensional art materials to a case study from the learner’s clinical practice.

Earn 3 Continuing Education (CE) Credits

Portland Institute for Loss and Transition is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists.  Portland Institute for Loss and Transition maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Portland Institute for Loss and Transition, [Provider number 1954], is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program.  Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers.  State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit.  Portland Institute for Loss and Transition maintains responsibility for this course.  ACE provider approval period: 09/09/2025-09/09/2028.

Earn 1 Credit for Orientation Module toward
Certification in Art-Assisted Grief Therapy
Offered by the Portland Institute.

 
 

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

This program contains the following video segments:

  • The Art Studio as Safe Space:  An Opening Experiential (45 mins)
  • Entering the Creative Imagination:  Branching Out into Diverse Media (38 mins)
  • Go with the Flow:  The Fluidity of Paint (47 mins)
  • Breaking with Tradition:  Giving Shape to the Clay (42 mins)

Materials & Methods:
Practicing with the Arts

Purchase without CEs
Purchase with APA CEs
Purchase with ACE CEs
USD$99 for 3-hour module / USD$124 with CE Credits

GRIEF TRAINING FACULTY​

Sharon Strouse

MA, ATR-BC, LCPAT
Baltimore, MD, United States

is a board-certified and licensed clinical professional art therapist and Associate Director for the Portland Institute.  Her art therapy private practice, national presentations, trainings and practitioner supervision/ mentoring focus on traumatic loss, specifically with parents who have lost a child, suicide bereavement, and military loss/ Gold Star Families.  The theoretical foundations of her group and individual art therapy work are grounded in meaning reconstruction, attachment informed grief therapy, continuing bonds with the deceased and restorative retelling. She is author of Artful Grief: A Diary of Healing, (www.artfulgrief.com) written twelve years after the suicide of her seventeen-year-old daughter.  She is co-founder of The Kristin Rita Strouse Foundation (www.krsf.com) a non-profit dedicated to supporting programs that increase awareness of mental health through education and the arts.

Barbara E. Thompson, OTD, LCSW

Professor Emerita, Russell Sage College
Venice, FL, United States

Barbara E. Thompson, OTD, LCSW, is a Professor of Occupational Therapy, Russell Sage College in Troy, NY, where she also maintains an active psychotherapy practice.  She founded the Hospice Day Program and ALS Regional Center at St. Peter’s Hospice in Albany, NY and has published  articles, book chapters and two books on use of contemplative practices and the creative arts in palliative, end-of-life and bereavement care.  Her books include Grief and the Expressive Arts: Practices for Creating Meaning (2014) with Robert Neimeyer, and Prescriptive Memories in Grief and Loss: The Art of Dreamscaping (2019) with Nancy Gershman, both published by Routledge.

Testimonials

I really liked the session and learned a lot about myself throughout this experience. I learned a lot of practical skills and strategies that I can use for myself or even for my clients in between and during sessions.

Sarah Abi-Khaled

It was great learning and reinforcement of the value of making meaning for one’s posttraumatic growth. I really like the way you model validation and reframing in your case studies. Meeting a client where they are and then facilitating with one of interventions you’ve given, in their moment of readiness. Teaching and modeling this is very helpful to watch unfold.

Celeste Miller

I appreciate so much how Dr. Neimeyer and Dr. Ng explain, present and model the use of the techniques throughout the workshop. Both Drs. Neimeyer and Ng are top in their field. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting so many other faculty at the retreat–all of whom are experts in this field. I look forward to participating in the certificate program.

Beth Bowman

I enjoyed the whole seminar – very informative and well organized.

Stephanie Enos

Deeply moving, well-supported with theory and research, extremely useful and inspiring. The slides were beautiful and engrossing. I’m sure we were all looking closely and deeply, in a parallel process with the screen and within ourselves.

Robin Roberts

I was very moved by the instructor sharing her personal experience as well as her art. Having her client present to share her loss and her art was also powerful and impactful. The learning from this class was deep and sustaining.

Paula Lowden

I truly loved everything. I particularly enjoyed the combinations of lecture and experientials.

Kristen Moore

The entire retreat was amazing. It was perfectly paced for learning and creating. It was both personally powerful and professionally. I loved the Lunch and Learn.

Brenda Daly

I am extremely impressed by this conference. The topics, the presenters. It was well worth the time and money.

Cynthia Crockett

Thank you for a beautiful retreat. I was moved to tears several times and it has set me on a course of deeper discovery. The presenters were all top notch, knowlegeable, and engaging. The activities allowed us to discover many things about ourselves and sharing the experience with others was invaluable. Those interactions will stay with me for a long time.

Jean Edwards

Honored & grateful for the PI team. Such a wealth of knowledge, expertise & compassion for humanity & healing suffering. I cannot wait to engage further with the PI trainings!

Nola Simpson

This is my first experience with PI and now I have found my go-to place for ongoing learning, mentoring & connection! I’m so excited for more! 

Monica Hanza

Well done!  Appropriate breadth & nice depth of skills covered. Appreciate the experiential approach. Knowledgeable & supportive faculty. Looking forward to doing more with PI in the future.

Allison Ilem

PI’s Grief Therapy Learning Retreat offered a safe holding space for grief professionals to gather in a beautiful setting & learn with prominent leaders in the field of thanatology. Professional yet warm, rigorous yet invigorating — I’m leaving with a sense of renewal to meeting clients where they are.

Lisa A. Rainwater

The retreat, the attendees, the faculty, the leaders and the offerings (learning opportunities) were really off-the-charts amazing. Thank you for creating an event that has been transformational for me.

Sheila Henderson

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If you have questions about Portland Institute or some of our offerings, please click the button below to visit our Frequently Asked Questions section – where many common questions are answered!

FREQUENTLY ASKED questions