Joy R. Samuels – 2-Day Intensive Thanatology Conference: Assessments & Interventions for Grief, Loss, & Mourning

Outline

GRIEF, LOSS, AND MOURNING

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE FAMILY! HOW FAMILY SYSTEMS IMPACT GRIEF REACTIONS AND WHY IT MATTERS IN CLINICAL PRACTICE

• Family life cycle
• Identifying effective communication patterns to promote healthy boundaries
• Impact of illness trajectory
• Grief styles
  • Epigenetics-do we inherit our grief reactions from our grandparents?
  • Personality
  • Temperament
• Normative grief responses
• Impact of type of loss
• Family systems theory
• Gender issues
• Assessment of risk factors for complicated/prolonged grief
• Determining appropriateness of specific interventions
• Case Studies

LIFE SPAN

• Developmental considerations and milestones related to loss reactions
  • Children
  • Adolescents
  • Early Adulthood
  • Middle Adulthood
  • Later Adulthood
  • Parental Loss
  • Child Loss
  • Widowhood
• Grief counseling throughout the lifespan
• Grief therapy interventions related to lifespan

CULTURAL/SOCIALIZATION

• Loss, Grief, and Mourning
  • Factors affecting experience of and expression of grief
  • Impact on mourning practices
  • Death anxiety

• Assessing and intervening with cultural competence
  • Advanced care planning
  • Communication
  • Meaning of death

EXCHANGE OF IDEAS LED BY DR. SAMUELS:

Network with other professionals to share interventions and assessments that have proven effective (and not effective) with clients who are dealing with a loss.

ASSESSMENTS, DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT PLANNING, AND INTERVENTIONS

CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON ASSESSMENTS AND INTERVENTIONS

• Current assessment models
• Current therapeutic strategies
• Controversy about efficacy of interventions
• Complicated grief
• Gender considerations
• Pathologizing of grief

RESOURCES AND RESEARCH

• Empirical research on current theories
• Research on effectiveness of assessments and interventions
• Practical resources for clinicians

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES

• Which assessments are within your scope of practice?
• Communication
• Professional liability and limitations
• Determining appropriate interventions in concert with evidence and client characteristics
• Professional responsibilities