For a significant subset of the bereaved, grieving may become a protracted and life-limiting ordeal. Beyond identifying mourners who are suffering from prolonged grief, we will explore the role of meaning as a mediator of evidence-based risk factors for this disorder. We will also introduce two carefully validated and clinically useful measures that assess challenges griever’s family and community have in making meaning of their losses.

In the afternoon, we will discuss the reality of resistance in grief therapy and how the meaning of mourning can create invisible impediments to substantial and lasting change. We will then consider analogical listening and symptom dialogues techniques by which clinicians and their clients can discover and ultimately transform hidden “pro-symptom positions” that work against the client’s own positive goals.

This program constitutes 1 of 3 courses required for Basic Certification in Grief Therapy offered by the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition (PI) in collaboration with J&K Seminars.  For more information about the optional certification program, click here.