The Wound that Does Not Heal:
Recognizing and Treating Complicated Grief Presented by Phyllis Kosminsky, PhD, FT

Web Conference Description

In recent years our understanding of how people heal from the loss of a significant person in their lives  has shifted away  from staged based models to a more nuanced, more individual view of how healing unfolds, and what it means. This workshop focuses on what helping professionals need to know about our evolving understanding of grief, about the emergence of various categories of complicated, or prolonged grief, and about how to help people who are grieving.

Many people who seek mental health services – and many who don’t – suffer from the ongoing effects of significant loss. Unrecognized and untreated grief is often at the heart of depression, low self esteem, relationship conflicts and a range of other problems. While most people experience sadness, anger and other powerful emotions when they suffer a loss, a substantial percentage of people continue to experience functional impairment. While supportive services may be helpful to many grievers, for these individuals it may well be the difference between their withdrawing from life and gradually returning to it.

Phyllis’s approach is practical, relational, and resource based. Her goal is to equip therapists – those whose work is largely involved with death and dying, and those who deal with more general mental health concerns – to recognize and address the needs of people with intense, prolonged grief.

This Web Conference is designed to help clinicians:

1) Understand how complicated grief differs from normal grief in diagnostic terms;
2) Recognize the signs of complicated, prolonged grief in clients;
3) Use a resource based strategy to help clients adapt to loss.

If you have any questions about this Web Conference, or would like more information, please contact us here.