Grief 101

This presentation will provide a brief history of grief-oriented approaches, various ways to conceptualize grief and loss, and grief-specific techniques and interventions.

The speaker is June Williams, Ph.D., LPC-S

9:00 – 9:45     Assumptions and Disclaimers

o             Grief stigma in American (Western) society

o             All significant losses (death and non-death related) result in grief

o             Lack of education regarding grief among mental health professionals

o             All counselors should be grief literate and grief competent

o             Conceptualization and understanding must precede action

 Grief myths, rules, and social norms

o             Exploration of grief rules and social norms

o             Examples of common grief myths

 Brief history of grief theories/models

o             Psychoanalytic

o             Stage models

o             Phase and task models

o             Post-modern/constructivist theories

9:45 – 10:30  Conceptualizing Grief Using Humphrey’s 9 Critical Guidelines for Conceptualizing Grief and Loss

A.           Grief as unique

B.           Grief as contextual

C.           Non-linear models preferred over linear models

D.           Emphasis on “continuing bonds” rather than “broken bonds”

E.            Grief as a normative process that may at times involve serious difficulties

 10:30 – 10:40  Break

 10:40 - noon

 F.            Clients as active agents in the grieving process

G.           Meaning making as a part of the adaptation process

H.           Ongoing nature of grief

 Techniques and interventions tailored to client’s needs

o             Assessing client needs

o             Emphasis first on “being with” and “facilitating” prior to “doing”

o             Essential skills

o             Grief-specific techniques/interventions

 Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to do the following:

o             identify grief rules, social norms, and myths that are detrimental to “healthy” grieving

o             conceptualize grief and loss from a variety of perspectives.

o             implement appropriate counseling interventions with grieving clients.

This workshop is approved for 3.0 CE clock hours; NBCC credit is not available for this program.

For more information: rachel@jfsneworleans.org

To register:  https://jfsneworleans.org/services/mental-health-professionals/