67th Annual Conference

Thursday, February 25

All-Day Workshops

10:00 A.M.-12:30 P.M. & 2:30-5:00 P.M.

Workshop 4a

The Ties that Bind: Letting Go and Holding on in Bereavement Groups

Chair:                

Mary Sussillo, LCSW, BCD, CGP, Adjunct Faculty, National Institute for the Psychotherapies, New York, New York

While grieving is a uniquely personal experience, healthy mourning does not occur in a relational vacuum. It requires the presence of empathic others who assist the mourner in working through the paradoxical, dual tasks of mourning--"letting go" and "holding on."

experiential-sharing of work experiences-demonstration-didactic

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:

1. Discuss the dual tasks of mourning.
2. Identify healthy mourning as an active process, not a passive one.
3. Demonstrate proactive interventions, such as bridging, with group members to facilitate the mourning process. 

Course References:

D. Klass, P. Silverman and S. Nickman (1996). Continuing Bonds: New Understandings of Grief. Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis.

Gaines, R. (1997). Detachment and continuity. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 33:549-571.

Sussillo, M. (2005). Beyond the grave: Adult treatment of adolescent parental loss. Psychoanalysis Dialogues, 15(4): 499-527.