Often, we, as therapists are called upon to deal with bereavement, where a client has unexpectedly lost a loved one, leaving them with a markedly reduced ability to function, a heightened propensity for depression, guilt, panic and an overwhelming lack of agency / control.

This video resource pack contains two complete workshops (CPD hours / CE credits: 6) that cover:

Part 1:

At this seminar, Dr Kosminsky, acclaimed author of Attachment informed grief therapy: The clinician’s guide to foundations and applications, uses video client vignettes to address the following questions:

• How do we normalize grief while duly acknowledging the pain of the bereaved individual?
• Grief is painful, but it is not an illness. How do we differentiate normal grief from what is considered complicated or prolonged grief disorder?
• A grieving client often struggles with two stressors: loss orientated, and restoration orientated. Why is this dual processing of grief difficult for some people and how can we help them?

Course objectives:

• Describe recent developments in bereavement research, in neuroscience and in attachment theory that bear on our understanding of how people adapt to loss
• Discuss the practical application of Attachment Theory in providing bereavement support to individuals with attachment related grief complications
• Discuss specific techniques for helping bereaved clients manage emotion, modify cognitions that impede healing, and adapt to changes brought about by significant loss

Part 2:

The loss of a child to suicide can be devastating, and healing sometimes requires the support of a skilled mental health professional. At this interactive webinar, a mother who lost her young adult son to suicide and her grief therapist, with whom she worked for several years, will together highlight the journey through her mourning process.

Dr John Jordan, acclaimed author of Attachment informed grief therapy: The clinician’s guide to foundations and applications and Grief after suicide: Understanding the consequences and caring for the survivors, will briefly provide a framework for understanding the therapeutic tasks at hand, and the client will describe in her own words (through dialogue and video recordings), what was helpful (and not helpful) about the therapy process. She will also discuss some of the changes in her grief that occurred over the course of her sessions.

Course objectives:

• Identify aspects of grief that are different and / or more intense after a suicide
• Better understand the experience of a person bereaved by suicide as a client in grief therapy
• Describe the role of the therapeutic alliance in working with suicide loss survivors

Both seminars are part of our newly launched Therapy Session Masterclass (TSM) Series. “What would you have said to the client in this situation?” is a question that delegates often ask the speaker when attending training sessions hosted at nscience. While, as therapists, we can learn a lot from exposition and case illustrations, our learning can be significantly enhanced if we were to have the opportunity to watch senior clinicians and experts in their therapy sessions with clients – we can observe how they manage the narrative, how they respond to complex situations, what overall approach they follow and their individual format for therapeutic interactions.

With this approach in mind, we’ve launched the Therapy Session Masterclass (TSM) Series – a regular programme of evening sessions (each of which can be individually attended as a stand-alone event), moderated and led by Dr Jan McGregor Hepburn, where we are inviting leading experts in Psychotherapy & Counselling – to let us observe them in clinical settings.