Liberating Joy from Loss Through Prescriptive Memory-Making & Dyadic Creativity

Course overview

When working with a client's memory, how do we locate the fleeting, joyful bits so often overshadowed by loss that no new insights can emerge? In this master class, the memory artist and psychotherapist who developed Dreamscaping will introduce a cinematic technique for arriving at the memory our client needs in order to move from isolation to re-integration in the world. This playful approach begins with curating novelty from positive felt-sense memories- then co-creating an even more novel "prescriptive" memory from these lived experiences so that it becomes the place where healing can happen. Case studies will demonstrate how prescriptive memories are compounded in a client's imagination, with magic realism launching memory reconsolidation capable of updating long term distressing memories. Live demos will give you an excellent sense of how to listen or prompt for incongruity so you can lead your client to new sources of courage and humor, based on personally developed imaginal or photo-based artwork. Implications for using this method in-person or via telehealth, with adult populations (grief and non-death related loss) and in clinical settings (hospice) will be addressed.