Learning to Live with the Legacy of Loss – A Somatic Approach for Working with Grief

Janina Fisher, Ph.D. is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Instructor at the Trauma Center, an outpatient clinic and research center founded by Bessel van der Kolk. Known for her expertise as both a therapist and consultant, she is also a past president of the New England Society for the Treatment of Trauma and Dissociation, an EMDR International Association Credit Provider, a faculty member of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, and a former Instructor, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Fisher has been an invited speaker at the Cape Cod Institute, Harvard Medical School Conference Series, the EMDR International Association Annual Conference, University of Wisconsin, University of Westminster in London, the Psychotraumatology Institute of Europe, and the Esalen Institute. Dr. Fisher lectures and teaches nationally and internationally on topics related to the integration of research and treatment and how to introduce these newer trauma treatment paradigms in traditional therapeutic approaches.

In a climate of fear and social isolation, we have been faced with the deadly threat of COVID and recently the even deadlier threat of a potential world war.  In the Ukraine, the Russians are stalking the streets and attacking from the air.  In the US, the virus remains an ever-present threat to our lives and the lives of those we love.  The burden of our losses is heavy.

Under social distancing restrictions, many have felt the loss of the person-to-person contact that normally calms the nervous system and relieves the sense of being alone and cut off.  For others, COVID has meant the loss of beloved family members; for young people, it has been the loss of precious teenage or young adult years and isolation from their peers.  In a virus-compromised world, additional losses resulted from not being able to say goodbye to the dying or care for them.  Witnessing the losses caused by the invasion of Ukraine has been heartbreaking even from distance of thousands of miles away.

How we deal with loss is complicated by living in a society that recognizes only the losses caused by death and by war, and no other kinds of loss.  In a culture that encourages stoicism rather than emotional expression, we tend to deny the enormity of our losses.  The pandemic exacerbated that tendency because it interfered with or prevented customs of mourning. And because grief is such a painful emotion, the universal instinct of all human beings to avoid feelings of loss is a constant challenge.

Whether you are a therapist or not, you are likely overwhelmed by new emotions of grief brought upon us by the pandemic and the war in the Ukraine. You may be using old-fashioned models of therapy that aren’t effective, and may even increase one’s sense of loss. No one in the therapy world has been writing about the new forms of grief, and therapists may feel that their understanding of compound or complicated grief is limited.

On the other hand, grief is “old”; it’s been around since the beginning of humanity and you may not have thought there were (or needs to be) new ways to approach it. But the time has come to help people be prepared to meet new kinds of grief in new ways.

• Describe the physical and emotional consequences of acute loss
• Summarize the 5 Stages of Grief
• Articulate the effect of loss on the brain and autonomic nervous system
• Identify 3 variables associated with complicated bereavement
• Summarize the practice of “mindful grieving”
• Describe the intervention for grief and loss of “tracking the body”
• Identify 2 somatic interventions for regulating the intensity of grief
• Implement 2 strategies for facilitating acceptance of loss

Mental Health Professionals including Psychologists, Social Workers, LPCs, and LMFTs.

Webinar I:   The Effects of Grief and Loss

In this webinar, we will look at the acute and long-term effects of loss identified by research in an effort to understand how our approaches to grief work can address both the physiological and psychological responses to loss.

• Immediate consequences of bereavement
• How traditions of mourning and remembrance support resolution
• Understanding the many effects of grief: guilt, numbing, relief, cognitive impairment, sadness, detachment
• The role of self-compassion
• The role of social support and fellow mourners

Webinar II:  Complicated versus Non-complicated Bereavement

In this webinar, we will address the causes of complicated bereavement versus the factors that lead to adaptation and resilience in the context of loss.   How can the therapist support clients in moving through grief?

• Avoidance versus rumination
• Dysregulation and its consequences
• Boundaries versus self-disclosure during bereavement
• Helping clients learn how to grieve
• Balancing pain and comfort

Webinar III:  Riding the Waves

Bereaved individuals often describe experiences of grief “coming out of nowhere,” suddenly arising like a wave, and “so painful it takes my breath away.”  They often become afraid of being hit by a wave of grief, avoiding people and situations that might evoke “the wave.”  That fear of the grief leads to complicated bereavement as often as does the over-preoccupation with grief.  Using a somatic approach, clients are helped to change their relationship to the intense intrusive feelings of grief, to relate to them as a body and emotional experience without words that needs simply to peak and then “move through” to resolution.  Clients can learn to mindfully follow the waves of emotion as physical sensations needing only completion and letting go.   By adopting a mindfulness approach, grief becomes less frightening and overwhelming, making it easier to resolve.

• How the emotional experience of grief differs from other emotions
• Developing a mindful relationship to the grief
• Learning to observe rather than be overwhelmed by it
• Noticing grief as waves of emotion: how emotion gets stuck
• Tracking the physical sensations in waves of grief
• “Riding the waves” of grief

Webinar IV:  Befriending Grief

In this final webinar, we will work with the instinctual tendencies to stay connected to those we have lost, no matter at what cost.  Acceptance and letting go are often the most challenging aspects of bereavement.  Guilt and anger impede our accepting that the loss is real and it is final.  We cannot ‘fight the gods’ to undo what happened.  But we can learn to accept and befriend the grief.  We can develop a friendly relationship to our memories of lost loved ones and also to the feelings about them that arise in the here-and-now, no matter how long it’s been.  We can even let our feelings about them change and grow over the years.

• Mindful noticing rather than verbal description of emotional experience
• Breathing through each wave of grief
• Learning how to let go of pain
• The challenge of accepting loss
• Moving on without guilt or shame

Accreditation Statement

Deep Eddy Psychotherapy is approved by the American PsychologicalAssociation to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Deep Eddy Psychotherapy maintains responsibility for this program and its contents.

Continuing Education credits offered by Deep Eddy Psychotherapy:

8.0 Credits for Psychologists

8.0 Credits for Social Workers in Texas (Sponsor # 7082),

8.0 Credits for LPCs in Texas (Sponsor # 2690)

8.0 Credits for LMFT in Texas (Sponsor # 1113)

Most states accept continuing education courses offered by CE Sponsors (which Deep Eddy is) for APA credits. Check with your governing board to obtain a final ruling.

A course evaluation is required to obtain the CEs.  An email will be sent to each participant after the conclusion of the course with instructions on how to complete the evaluation and obtain the CE Certificate.

This course is $197.

If you for some reason are not satisfied with the course you have 7 days from the first live session to request a cancellation and a refund. Please refer to the policy section for details on how to cancel.

The CEs will be available for purchase for $40 shortly after the conclusion of the last session. You will be notified by email at the end of the program with instructions on how to purchase the CEs.