Grief does not always follow the death of a loved one. It can be triggered by the loss of a relationship, a future, a sexual identity — or even by the trauma of being treated as if one’s body or experience does not matter. This unique video pairing explores two lesser-discussed but clinically vital forms of grief: bereavement after sudden, traumatic loss, and the grief that arises from sexual trauma, dysfunction, or the silencing of sexual expression.

In Part One, renowned grief experts Dr Phyllis Kosminsky and Dr John R. Jordan introduce Attachment-Informed Grief Therapy, a model that integrates the neuroscience of loss with the emotional dynamics of attachment. Their approach is grounded in therapeutic presence, co-regulation, and helping clients process grief complicated by suicide, homicide, and other traumatic deaths. In Part Two, psychosexual therapist Cate Campbell addresses the taboo of sexual grief — helping clinicians recognise how the body carries grief after trauma, shame, or early messages of sexual suppression. She offers concrete strategies for helping clients reconnect with pleasure, agency, and embodiment.

Together, these trainings offer a somatically-informed, relationally grounded lens on grief work that expands the clinical understanding of what it means to mourn — and what it takes to heal.

What’s Included:

• Traumatic Loss & Attachment Informed Grief Therapy — Dr Phyllis Kosminsky & Dr John R. Jordan (6 CPD)
• Working with Sexual Grief and Loss — Cate Campbell (3 CPD)

Who It’s For:

• Therapists working with bereavement, relational rupture, or developmental trauma
• Clinicians supporting clients with sexual trauma, shutdown, or identity loss
• Practitioners seeking new ways to understand grief that isn’t about death — but still leaves lasting wounds

What You Will Learn:

• How attachment style affects how clients grieve — and how they relate to the therapist
• Strategies to support mourning after suicide, homicide, and sudden loss
• Why grief becomes “complicated” and how to respond to emotional dysregulation
• How sexual trauma or societal silence can create unresolved sexual grief
• Tools to help clients reconnect with their bodies and restore agency and desire
• How to hold space for grief that is unspoken, unrecognised, or taboo

Course 1

Traumatic Loss & Attachment Informed Grief Therapy: Video Course

Dr Phyllis Kosminsky and Dr John R. Jordan

CPD/CE credits: 6

Psychotherapists and Counsellors are routinely called upon to deal with bereavement as a presenting issue, and most feel comfortable doing this. However, working with traumatic losses – i.e., grief that emerges after the sudden, unexpected, and often violent death of a loved one, such as a suicide, homicide, loss to a disease or accidental death – is often a daunting challenge for us as therapists. In this two-part seminar, Drs Kosminsky and Jordan will address some of the challenges that are universal in the mourning process after traumatic deaths – while specifically considering that Attachment Security is a key factor that explains an individual’s response to bereavements. The seminar will look at what research and clinical practice have taught us about the development of a secure vs. insecure orientation to attachment, and how attachment orientation impacts emotional health across the lifespan, with an emphasis on response to traumatic loss (any death-related loss that is likely to elicit both significant separation distress and a trauma response).

The presenters will explain the significance of contemporary perspectives on attachment and interpersonal neuroscience that are critical to understanding variations in peoples’ adaptation to loss and will outline the implications of these insights for the practice of therapy with bereaved individuals. The core principles and practices of grief therapy have been consolidated in their book Attachment Informed Grief Therapy (Kosminsky & Jordan, 2016), an approach that emphasizes the centrality of the therapeutic relationship and the role of the therapist in helping the bereaved client re-regulate in the aftermath of significant loss. This approach is guided by an appreciation of the ways that attachment styles both mediate mourning and influence the therapeutic process.

Having established the basis and rationale of an attachment informed approach, the presenters will expand on the elements of grief therapy and the core clinical skills of the grief therapist that comprise this model. These principles and skills will be illustrated with clinical vignettes and client videos.

Session 1: Identifying and Addressing Attachment-Related Complications In Bereavement: Dr Phyllis Kosminsky

Dr Kosminsky uses client videos and case discussions to illustrate how we can use Attachment Informed Grief Therapy in practice. Our learning objectives on the first evening are:

• Identify three core principles of Attachment Theory that relate to grief and loss
• Describe recent developments in bereavement research, in neuroscience and in attachment theory that bear on our understanding of how people adapt to loss
• Describe what is meant by “Attachment-informed grief therapy” and discuss the practical application of Attachment Theory in providing bereavement support to individuals with attachment related grief complications
• Describe five specific techniques for helping bereaved clients manage emotion, modify cognitions that impede healing, and adapt to changes brought about by significant loss

Session 2: Working with Traumatic Loss: An Attachment Informed Approach: Dr John R. Jordan

The second evening builds our learnings from the previous evening and specifically discusses the effects of traumatic deaths on individuals and families – including suicides, homicides, accidental deaths and natural disasters. Dr Jordan uses the twin lenses of thanatology and traumatology to comprehend common themes across bereavement responses. Our learning objectives on the second evening are:

• Describe differences and similarities in trauma and complicated grief responses
• Identify prominent psychological themes that are common for individual and family survivors of traumatic loss
• Describe the foundational orientation of Attachment Informed Grief Therapy for the roles of the grief counselor in working with traumatic bereavement.
• Describe several promising new treatment techniques for complicated and traumatic grief

Course 2

Working with Sexual Grief and Loss

Video Course

Cate Campbell

CPD/CE credits: 3

As therapists, we understand that grief is an emotional human response to any loss. However, many clients find it difficult to open up about being overwhelmed with grief. When grief encompasses sexual grief, it creates a twin taboo. As clients can feel stigmatized discussing both sexuality and grief, there can be a strong undercurrent of shame and guilt and an inability to open up about it in the therapeutic space.

Sexual grief occurs when people are robbed of their sexuality as a result of trauma. The underlying causes can range from the obvious, such as sexual assault, to more subtle interpersonal trauma, such as being brought up with intrusive guilt-tripping parents, inappropriate sexual grooming, living with someone critical, ridicule after an initial sexual experience and/or the loss of a sexual partner. Often, the way someone is treated following any loss or trauma can also lead to a shutdown of their ability to express sexuality, as the person’s trust and sense of wellbeing is damaged. Consequently, it is crucial that we as therapists reflect upon the close interplay between grief and sexuality experienced by our clients.

The way individuals adapt to manage their sexual grief may offer short-term relief but create further problems for their sense of identity, mental health and relationships. For many of those affected, their bodies carry the burden of their loss so they may come to therapy with clinical manifestations including unexplained or chronic illnesses, loss of sexual desire, and / or an inability to tune in to their body. Such unacknowledged sexual grief affects many of our individual and couple clients who may fail to progress in therapy or relapse if their therapist fails to address this sensitive interconnection and help clients understand that this is the way bodies grieve.

At this therapeutically oriented webinar, Cate Campbell, the acclaimed author of The Relate Guide to Sex and Intimacy, explores grief through the lens of sexual and somatic therapy. In discussing this common but devastating therapeutic challenge, she focuses particularly on:

• recognition of presenting issues which may reflect someone struggling with sexual grief
• how we can identify and address the exacerbating influence of societal and cultural attitudes and beliefs
• ways to treat sexual grief and recognise when to refer for more specialist therapy
• recognising and acknowledging clients’ grieving patterns and bodily / emotional responses
• helping them make time for the grieving process outside their timetables and agendas
• acknowledging how treatment for sexual dysfunctions and grief may need to happen concurrently
• and overall, how we can help our clients reconnect with the sexual and joyful parts of themselves

The basics of treating sexual grief will be outlined, including how to reconnect someone with their body through sensorimotor activities, as well as how to develop strategies to manage their sexual grief and its consequences. While normalising sexual grief is important, most of those affected are likely to benefit from targeted trauma treatments, including parts work and EMDR, so it will be explained how familiarity with these is helpful in terms of assessing for referral and explaining their value to clients.

Overall Programme Learning Objectives for two sessions:

• Identify three core principles of Attachment Theory that relate to grief and loss
• Describe recent developments in bereavement research, in neuroscience and in attachment theory that bear on our understanding of how people adapt to loss
• Describe what is meant by “Attachment-informed grief therapy” and discuss the practical application of Attachment Theory in providing bereavement support to individuals with attachment related grief complications
• Describe five specific techniques for helping bereaved clients manage emotion, modify cognitions that impede healing, and adapt to changes brought about by significant loss
• Describe differences and similarities in trauma and complicated grief responses
• Identify prominent psychological themes that are common for individual and family survivors of traumatic loss
• Describe the foundational orientation of Attachment Informed Grief Therapy for the roles of the grief counselor in working with traumatic bereavement.
• Describe several promising new treatment techniques for complicated and traumatic grief
• Discuss the presenting issues which may reflect someone struggling with sexual grief
• Identify and address the exacerbating influence of societal and cultural attitudes and beliefs
• Explain how we can help our clients reconnect with the sexual and joyful parts of themselves

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