Meaning-Breaking, Meaning-Making: Grief Therapy as Narrative Reconstruction

Robert A. Neimeyer, University of Memphis, USA

Workshop description

Whether losses are normative or traumatic, the death of someone close to us can disrupt the assumptions that allow us to find security and purpose in life. This workshop will examine adaptation to bereavement through the twin lenses of attachment theory and meaning reconstruction models, to reveal the ways in which loss can stretch and tear the web of bonds and meanings that sustain our life stories, and prompt efforts at narrative repair. We will examine new evidence about the variety of pathways that people follow through bereavement, some of which lead to resilience or recovery, and others of which lead to chronic grief and depression. Considering grieving as a meaning-breaking, meaning-making process of will prepare participants to identify signs of bereavement complication, and to learn concrete methods that will enable them to listen beneath the stories that clients tell themselves and others about their loss, and reveal clients' resources to find the seeds for their restoration of stability and future growth.

Using a blend of systematic instruction, therapeutic video, and hands-on practice with new concepts and methods, participants will be trained in several practical methods for conceptualizing and treating grief-related difficulties, from in-session process interventions to self-help strategies that clients can use between sessions. Our ultimate goal will be to explore a range of ways to help clients adapt constructively to bereavement by finding meaning in loss, while also charting a path forward in a transformed world.

Learning objectives

• Describe the relevance of attachment security to bereavement outcomes
• Apply four contemporary models of grief processing to clinical cases
• Define the relationship of narrative disruption to bereavement complication and resilience
• Identify at least six therapeutic strategies that promote meaning reconstruction in the wake of loss

Timetable

Venue

Hilton on the Park, Melbourne

Date

Monday 14 July, 2008