Grief Work in Therapy: Strategies for Managing Loss and Promoting Healing

Course overview

This presentation aims to help mental health professionals further develop education and skills to help bereft individuals heal after many types of losses (e.g., death, relationships, jobs, homes, and physical health). Surprisingly, clinicians are rarely trained or informed about theories and topics related to death and loss in their graduate programs, leaving them inadequately qualified to navigate and support bereaved persons in integrating their losses into the narrative of their lives. This is particularly unfortunate because so many clients struggle with mental health issues, and often prevents transformative loss growth. This presentation will introduce the concept of normative grief, prolonged grief disorder, mediators to consider when conceptualizing assessment, the impact of culture and spirituality in the grieving process, and provide several interventions that can be used with bereaved individuals.