An Expressive Arts Approach to Healing Loss and Grief


Book Description

Drawing on expertise in both expressive arts and grief counselling, this book highlights the use of expressive arts therapeutic methods in confronting and healing grief and bereavement. Establishing a link between these two approaches, it widens our understanding of loss and grief. With personal and professional insight, Renzenbrink illuminates the healing and restorative power of creative arts therapies, as well as addressing the impact of communion with others and the role that expressive arts can play in community change. Covering a broad understanding of grief, the discussion incorporates migration and losing one's home, chronic illness and natural disasters, highlighting the breadth of types of loss and widening our perceptions of this. Grief specialists are given imaginative and nourishing tools to incorporate into their practice and better support their clients. An invaluable resource to expand understanding of grief and explore the power of expressive arts to heal both communities and individuals.




The Art of Grief


Book Description

Art and other expressive therapies are increasingly used in grief counseling, not only among children and adolescents, but throughout the developmental spectrum. Creative activities are commonly used in group and individual psychotherapy programs, but it is only relatively recently that these expressive modalities have been employed within the context of clinical grief work in structured settings. These forms of nonverbal communication are often more natural ways to express thoughts and feelings that are difficult to discuss, particularly when it comes to issues surrounding grief and loss. Packed with pictures and instructional detail, this book includes an eight-session curriculum for use with grief support groups as well as alternative modalities of grief art therapy.




Art and Mourning


Book Description

Art and Mourning explores the relationship between creativity and the work of self-mourning in the lives of 20th century artists and thinkers. The role of artistic and creative endeavours is well-known within psychoanalytic circles in helping to heal in the face of personal loss, trauma, and mourning. In this book, Esther Dreifuss-Kattan, a psychoanalyst, art therapist and artist - analyses the work of major modernist and contemporary artists and thinkers through a psychoanalytic lens. In coming to terms with their own mortality, figures like Albert Einstein, Louise Bourgeois, Paul Klee, Eva Hesse and others were able to access previously unknown reserves of creative energy in their late works, as well as a new healing experience of time outside of the continuous temporality of everyday life. Dreifuss-Kattan explores what we can learn about using the creative process to face and work through traumatic and painful experiences of loss. Art and Mourning will inspire psychoanalysts and psychotherapists to understand the power of artistic expression in transforming loss and traumas into perseverance, survival and gain. Art and Mourning offers a new perspective on trauma and will appeal to psychoanalysts and psychotherapists, psychologists, clinical social workers and mental health workers, as well as artists and art historians.




Creative Interventions in Grief and Loss Therapy


Book Description

Get the tools to help the grief that comes when a dream dies Every person at one time or another suffers when his or her dreams are shattered. Creative Interventions in Grief and Loss Therapy: When the Music Stops, a Dream Dies provides truly innovative approaches to therapeutically help individuals work through and survive grief and loss. Leading experts explore creative interventions for common, yet emotionally devastating problems faced by those weathering the storms of grief after their dream has been destroyed. Therapists and counselors get the effective tools to creatively help people through the difficulties of dealing with death, addiction, trauma, changes in life circumstances, divorce, heartbreak, miscarriage, co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder (COD), suicide, adoption, and issues with children. The chapters in this innovative volume cite existing research on specific grief and loss issues and illustrate a clinical application for each situation using various creative mediums such as music, writing, or ritual. Each approach can be expanded and modified with care by clinicians of all types to better help clients through the process. This resource is extensively referenced. Topics in Creative Interventions in Grief and Loss Therapy include: how storytelling, journaling, and correspondence can be used to process the experience of a counselor’s loss following the death of their client using psychodrama and the utilization of empty chair techniques to address addiction related grief and loss the use of rituals as an intervention to help clients trauma and loss during times of natural disasters the process of gatekeeping by counselor educators Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) as an approach to help student athletes deal with life after the sport a literary exercise to help clients work toward forgiveness after divorce using books, songs, and projects to assist clients experiencing grief after the death of their adolescent child creative strategies to aid clients through the grief and loss of love effective interventions to assist clients through loss from miscarriage using music, videography, visual arts, literature, drama, play, and altar-making in the grief process innovative interventions for individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder suicide high risk factors—and a Pre-suicide Preparation Plan that mental health practitioners can implement creative intervention for the client who is adopted using super heroes and science fiction therapeutic storytelling for children in grief Creative Interventions in Grief and Loss Therapy: When the Music Stops, a Dream Dies is a creative, reaffirming resource perfect for mental health professionals, therapists, counselors, social workers, educators, and students.




Artful Grief


Book Description

Artful Grief is a decade long study of loss by an art therapist, in the aftermath of her daughters suicide. On October 11, 2001, Sharon received a phone call in the middle of the night from the New York City Police Department telling her that her seventeen year old daughter Kristin, had fallen from the roof of her college dormitory. So began her journey into the labyrinth of unspeakable grief. As the ?rst year drew to a close she found no comfort in traditional therapy, and no solace in spoken or written words. In surrender to her inner art therapists guidance, she began to create collages. She cut and tore images out of magazines and glued them on various size paper. The paper was a safe and sacred container, receptive to the fullness of emotion, story and paradox. Over time there was transformation and healing. Artful Grief A creative roadmap through violent dying and grief. A dose of soul medicine for survivors. A way to retrieve the pieces of a shattered life, with paper, scissors and glue. A resourceful tool for those suffering with complicated grief and/or PTSD. A place for the unspeakable to be seen and heard. A process to quiet the mind and open the heart. A visual experience of trauma images as illustrations of hope. A sample of prophetic dreams and meditations that are illuminating. A heartfelt sharing of intimate secrets for understanding and compassion. A surprising grief gift that is inspiring.




Grief and the Expressive Arts


Book Description

The use of the arts in psychotherapy is a burgeoning area of interest, particularly in the field of bereavement, where it is a staple intervention in hospice programs, children’s grief camps, specialized programs for trauma or combat exposure, work with bereaved parents, widowed elders or suicide survivors, and in many other contexts. But how should clinicians differentiate between the many different approaches and techniques, and what criteria should they use to decide which technique to use—and when? Grief and the Expressive Arts provides the answers using a crisp, coherent structure that creates a conceptual and relational scaffold for an artistically inclined grief therapy. Each of the book’s brief chapters is accessible and clearly focused, conveying concrete methods and anchoring them in brief case studies, across a range of approaches featuring music, creative writing, visual arts, dance and movement, theatre and performance and multi-modal practices. Any clinician—expressive arts therapist, grief counselor, or something in between—looking for a professionally oriented but scientifically informed book for guidance and inspiration need look no further than Grief and the Expressive Arts.




She Explores


Book Description

For every woman who has ever been called outdoorsy comes a collection of stories that inspires unforgettable adventure. Beautiful, empowering, and exhilarating, She Explores is a spirited celebration of female bravery and courage, and an inspirational companion for any woman who wants to travel the world on her own terms. Combining breathtaking travel photography with compelling personal narratives, She Explores shares the stories of 40 diverse women on unforgettable journeys in nature: women who live out of vans, trucks, and vintage trailers, hiking the wild, cooking meals over campfires, and sleeping under the stars. Women biking through the countryside, embarking on an unknown road trip, or backpacking through the outdoors with their young children in tow. Complementing the narratives are practical tips and advice for women planning their own trips, including: • Preparing for a solo hike • Must-haves for a road-trip kitchen • Planning ahead for unknown territory • Telling your own story A visually stunning and emotionally satisfying collection for any woman craving new landscapes and adventure.




Experiential Action Methods and Tools for Healing Grief and Loss-Related Trauma


Book Description

Experiential Action Methods and Tools for Healing Grief and Loss-Related Trauma introduces innovative psychodramatic and creative expression methods for helping those affected by bereavement and trauma. Each section focuses on a particular acute or secondary grief issue, providing supportive and explanatory material that can be given to clients, and experiential action methods for providers. Real-world vignettes and psychodrama tools delineate a unique approach to unlocking and shifting entrenched perspectives related to persistent grief and loss-related trauma, with chapters organized for practical use and application by counselors and therapists. The book also includes critical incident stress training material specifically for first responders, a frequently overlooked population. The practical guidance offered in this book will be of great interest to all who work with grief and trauma, including practicing and trainee psychologists and therapists, counseling centers, hospice organizations, bereavement support programs, and ministers.




Compassion-Based Approaches in Loss and Grief


Book Description

Compassion-Based Approaches in Loss and Grief introduces clinicians to a wide array of strategies and frameworks for engaging clients throughout the loss experience, particularly when those experiences have a protracted course. In the book, clinicians and researchers from around the world and from a variety of fields explore ways to cultivate compassion and how to implement compassion-based clinical practices specifically designed to address loss, grief, and bereavement. Students, scholars, and mental health and healthcare professionals will come away from this important book with a deepened understanding of compassion-based approaches and strategies for enhancing distress tolerance, maintaining focus, and identifying the clinical interventions best suited to clients’ needs.




The International Handbook of Art Therapy in Palliative and Bereavement Care


Book Description

The Handbook of Art Therapy in Palliative and Bereavement Care offers a multicultural and international perspective on how art therapy can help individuals, groups, families, communities, and nations facing death and dying as well as grief and loss. Over 50 art therapists from around the world write about the transforming power of art therapy in the lives of those facing terminal illness, dementia, loss, and grief, and offer practical descriptions and techniques for working with adults and children to guide professionals, including those new to using art therapy and creative approaches in end-of-life care services. Readers will also find examples of work with groups, families and individuals. This extensive resource reflects the most current research while also covering various materials and methods, unique populations, professional care and development, and community engagement. This international handbook is essential reading for arts therapists, social workers, medical personnel, faith leaders, and psychologists interested in a collaborative and accessible approach to working with patients and families affected by loss.