Presenters:
Darcy Harris, RN, RSW, MEd(Couns), PhD, FT
Robert A. Neimeyer, PhD

Duration:
3 hours

Synopsis

Loss and grief are typically understood as related to the death of a significant person in someone’s life. However, loss is a much broader experience that encompasses events that shatter how individuals view their world and expect life to unfold, creating a painful crisis of meaning. The first part of this module will discuss the griever’s assumptive world and the role of shattered assumptions as the catalyst for the activation of the grief response. This section will also review the different ways that grief is manifest after various loss experiences.

Building on this conceptualization, we will then offer a flexible roadmap for bereavement support and grief therapy, anchored in the understanding that how we grieve is a function of who we are, who we lose, and how we lose them. From the standpoint of the Tripartite Model of Meaning Reconstruction in Loss, we will delineate clear process markers that help therapists focus on (a) restorative integration of the event story of the death or loss, (b) realignment of the back story of the relationship to the deceased, or (c) revision of the personal story of the self, thereby providing an orienting frame for the remainder of the Retreat.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the various aspects of the assumptive world and how these relate to the experience of loss and grief.
2. Describe different types of non-death loss experiences and unique aspects of grief associated with each.
3. Distinguish therapeutic goals and describe their relationship to relevant therapeutic tools and approaches framed within the Tripartite Model of Meaning Reconstruction in Loss.

Content Overview

• Conceptualization of grief as a violation of the assumptive world and a consideration of situational factors that invalidate implicit core beliefs (60 minutes)
• Differentiation of death and non-death losses and the unique aspects of grief that associated with each type of loss experience (60 minutes)
• Presentation of a Meaning Reconstruction model of grief as a framework for technically eclectic, empirically informed grief therapy (60 minutes)

Note: This 3 hour CE module focuses on applications of psychological assessment and/or intervention methods that have overall consistent and credible empirical support in the contemporary peer reviewed scientific literature beyond those publications and other types of communications devoted primarily to the promotion of the approach.

Presenters: Robert A. Neimeyer

Duration:
3 hours

Synopsis

Part 1: Recruiting Relational Resources

Death may end a life, but not necessarily a relationship. Working from this recognition, counselors and therapists do not need to be specialists in grief therapy to support many of their bereaved clients. 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 of losses will help participants reorganize their ongoing relationship with the deceased, as we also note several techniques that can help move such work forward. Translating orienting concepts into practice, we will practice a creative technique for mapping their “secure base” relationships and another for initiating a “person-first” rather than “problem-first” approach to grief therapy with the goal of reaffirming a constructive attachment bond to the deceased.

Learning Objectives:

1. Outline a Continuing Bonds approach to bereavement and its implications for grief therapy
2. Summarize the Two-Track Model of Bereavement and its use in identifying topics meriting clinical attention
3. Apply Secure Base Mapping to trace sustaining bonds over time to identify internal and external resources to promote adaptation to life transitions
4. Facilitate narration of Object Stories to reopen the back story of the relationship to the deceased as a resource in grief therapy

Part 2: Resolving Relational Complications

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 program we will explore and practice both creative narrative methods for fostering a sustaining sense of connection and alliance with the loved one in embracing a changed future, and working through issues of guilt, disappointment and abandonment triggered by the death and the shared life that preceded it. Participants will leave with tools for assessing factors that complicate grieving, helping clients appreciate the role of the loved one in their construction of their own identities, and re-access and revise frozen dialogues with the deceased that interfere with post-loss adaptation.

Learning Objectives:

1. Summarize the use of the Unfinished Business in Bereavement Scale for assessing residual conflicts and disappointments in the relationship with the deceased that invite therapeutic work
2. Use the Life Imprint technique to recognize the living legacy of the deceased for the survivor at both concrete and abstract levels
3. Conduct healing Correspondence with the Deceased to resolve issues that impede constructive adaptation to the loss

Content Overview

• Continuing Bonds:  Implications for Grief Therapy(60 min.)
• Secure Base Mapping:  From Principles to Practice (60 min.)
• Object Stories:  Toward a Person-First Practice (60 min.)

Note: This 3 hour CE module focuses on applications of psychological assessment and/or intervention methods that have overall consistent and credible empirical support in the contemporary peer reviewed scientific literature beyond those publications and other types of communications devoted primarily to the promotion of the approach

Presenter:
Darcy Harris, RN, RSW, MEd(Couns), PhD, FT

Duration:
3 hours

Synopsis

Compassion-based approaches have been widely supported through recent research in the field of psychotherapy 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 help therapists tolerate distress, maintain focus, and discern clinical interventions that are appropriate for clients in a variety of contexts. Cultivating a compassionate stance provides clinicians with the opportunity to engage clients with their full attention and presence, allowing openness and receptivity for both the painful and the adaptive aspects of the client’s process.

Participants will explore components of compassion training and their application to situations involving significant losses and grief, including the flows of compassion, self-compassion practices as potential sources of resilience and sustainability, and dialogue with the inner critic in ways that address complications in grief related to shame and disenfranchisement from negative social messages.

Learning Objectives

1. Define compassion as it relates to the therapeutic process in grief-related scenarios.
2. Describe the value of cultivating compassionate awareness in clinical work with grieving clients.
3. Identify compassionate practices that will enhance clinical practice skills.
4. Explore the flows of compassion, including potential fears, blocks, and resistances to compassion.

Content Overview

• Differentiation of compassion from other prosocial behaviors (45 minutes)
• Overview of the flows of compassion and common fears, blocks, and resistance to it (45 minutes)
• Discussion of the role of self-compassion as a source of sustainability in grief therapy (45 minutes)
• Discussion of the inner critic and ways to engage that foster constructive dialogue and a self-compassionate stance for the therapist and clients (45 minutes)

Note: This 3 hour CE module focuses on applications of psychological assessment and/or intervention methods that have overall consistent and credible empirical support in the contemporary peer reviewed scientific literature beyond those publications and other types of communications devoted primarily to the promotion of the approach.

Presenter: Robert A. Neimeyer, PhD
Organisation: Portland Institute for Loss and Transition

Duration:
3 hours

Synopsis

Part 1

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 workshop offers in-depth training in several of these techniques, nesting them both within the therapy relationship and in the context of current theories and research that provide flexible, trauma-informed frameworks for intervention.

After introducing traumatic loss as a crisis of meaning, we will consider the power of presence as a fundamental dimension of the therapeutic “holding environment,” which provides clients the safety and grounding needed for reengaging tragic stories of loss without risking re-traumatization. We will explore the Tripartite Model of Meaning Reconstruction to learn how we can quickly assess our clients’ points of fixation, impasse or blockage in adaptive grieving, and the implications this carries for intervention.

We will then discuss clinical guidelines for conducting a healing “re-telling” of the loss experience, which promotes the restoration of greater meaning and coherence. Drawing on clinical videos of clients contending with losses through sudden natural death, accident and suicide, we will learn how we can help them integrate the event story of the death into lives with less reactivity and find a compassionate audience for its telling.

Learning Objectives:

• Summarize recent research relating meaning making about a loss to adaptive grief outcomes, and a persistent struggle for meaning with intense to prolonged grief symptomatology
• Summarize the essential features of the Tripartite Model of Meaning Reconstruction in grief and outline its implications for grief therapy
• Identify markers for the use of narrative retelling of an event story of loss, and guidelines for avoiding re-traumatization
• Implement restorative retelling procedures for mastering the event story of the loss.

Part 2

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.

First, we will learn a somatic visualization technique to help clients grasp more fully the unvoiced meaning of their grief, which often resides at the level of their embodied emotion. Drawing on a telehealth demonstration of the method, we will explore the role of metaphor in helping clients reach beyond literal language to symbolize how they carry their grief, and what it can tell them and us about how they now might move toward healing.

We then consider innovations in journaling that prompt clients to name and claim the emotional impact of their losses, and also to step back, make greater sense of what they have been through and perhaps even encounter unsought benefits in it. Alternating between jointly negotiated journaling homework and its seamless integration into subsequent therapy sessions, creative and reflective writing can prompt the self-compassion, insight and action required to reconstruct life out of loss.

Learning Objectives:

1. Summarize guidelines for Embodied Dialogue as a procedure to help clients make greater sense of their emotions and themselves
2. Describe how a non-literal, figurative form of inquiry into the felt sense of loss can help clients symbolize their implicit embodied meanings
3. Distinguish between Emotion-Focused, Sense-Making and Benefit-Finding Journaling and highlight the role of each in prompting and consolidating adaptation to loss
4. Implement procedures for establishing safe entry into and exit from immersive and reflective journaling, and generalize these to its use in therapy

Content Overview

• Loss and the Quest for Meaning:  Implications for Grief Therapy (60 min.)
• Restorative Retelling:  Integrating the Event Story of Violent Death (60 min.)
• Retelling in Practice:  As Experiential Exercise (60 min.)

Note: This 3 hour CE module focuses on applications of psychological assessment and/or intervention methods that have overall consistent and credible empirical support in the contemporary peer reviewed scientific literature beyond those publications and other types of communications devoted primarily to the promotion of the approach.

Presenter:
Darcy Harris, RN, RSW, MEd(Couns), PhD, FT

Duration:
3 hours

Synopsis

Recent research has brought growing awareness of the impact of grief on the neurobiological system. This knowledge has increased our understanding of various processes in grief, including how the brain attempts to come to terms with loss and the role that sympathetic activation may play in the experience of grieving individuals. In addition, therapists may experience the activation of their nervous system when working with clients who become dysregulated and overwhelmed.

Using this knowledge, we can begin working directly with various aspects of the autonomic nervous system to help clients feel more stable. Many current therapeutic modalities incorporate aspects of therapists’ self-practice to enhance their ability to remain fully present to the client’s experience, especially in situations involving intense and/or distressing emotions. This may include the practice of mindful awareness, presence, and various body-based techniques that enable the therapist to serve as an anchor and safe haven for clients who feel dysregulated or overwhelmed. This module will provide insight into the role of the brain and the autonomic nervous system in grief, focusing on practices that can be useful for both grieving clients and the therapists who support them.

Learning Objectives

1. Discuss the current research on the implementation of compassion-based somatic approaches on emotion regulation, resilience, and sustainability.
2. Identify the neurobiological effects of grief and discuss ways to work with the body in grief therapy.
3. Engage in body-based and relational-oriented practices that promote stability and regulation of difficult emotions.

Content Overview

• Review recent research related to brain science, neurobiology, and grief (45 minutes)
• Discuss role of autonomic nervous system in emotion regulation and grounding practices for grief therapy (45 minutes)
• Explore practices that activate the parasympathetic nervous system and foster client resilience and capacity with intense and difficult emotions associated with grief (45 minutes)
• Practice soothing rhythm breathing, lovingkindness meditation, safe space imagery, presence and attunement, and progressive muscle relaxation (45 minutes)

Note: This 3 hour CE module focuses on applications of psychological assessment and/or intervention methods that have overall consistent and credible empirical support in the contemporary peer reviewed scientific literature beyond those publications and other types of communications devoted primarily to the promotion of the approach.

Presenters:
Darcy Harris, RN, RSW, MEd(Couns), PhD, FT
Robert A. Neimeyer, PhD

Duration:
3 hours

Synopsis

Drawing on Meaning Reconstruction, Dialogical Self Theory, composition work, and reflective writing, this module begins with a reflective exploration of how various losses shape our lives. Using the loss line exercise, participants will identify significant losses they have experienced, focusing on their impact and how these experiences have shaped the person they have become. After completing this portion of the exercise, participants will create the Seasons of Transition, a technique for artfully expressing both losses and gains, while expressing grief, identifying resources, and fostering growth. Through the use of natural elements and relevant prompts, learners will formulate seasonal compositions that invite introspection, sense-making, and goal-setting for life transitions. Participants will then discuss the therapeutic intent and potential use of these exercises (with potential variations). The module will explore how nature-based materials might help clients embrace life’s inevitable losses and facilitate their ongoing growth in the aftermath.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the presence and impact of various losses by through the construction of a loss line.
2. Apply Seasons of Transition to name the losses and gains experienced through personal life changes and to identify personal growth in its aftermath.
3. Discuss the possible variations of the procedures with various clinical settings and groups.

Content Overview

• Discussion of loss line exercise and implementation (60 minutes)
• Review of loss lines and discussion of their impact (dyads or small group work; 30 minutes)
• Introduction to Meaning Reconstruction and Dialogical Self Theory (30 minutes)
• Constructing and processing Seasonal Compositions (45 minutes)
• Extensions and Variations (15 minutes)

Note: This 3 hour CE module focuses on applications of psychological assessment and/or intervention methods that have overall consistent and credible empirical support in the contemporary peer reviewed scientific literature beyond those publications and other types of communications devoted primarily to the promotion of the approach.