Rethinking the Grief Model & Grief in the Room

Edy Nathan, MA, LCSW, CST, is a licensed psychotherapist, AASECT-certified sex therapist, and internationally recognized expert on grief, trauma, and sexual healing. With over 25 years of private practice in New York City, she brings a nuanced, human-centered approach to experiences often left unspoken. Edy bridges psychology, neuroscience, and creative expression, pioneering work on "sexual grief"—the complex loss of identity and connection following trauma. Rather than focusing on "getting over" grief, she helps individuals develop an evolving, embodied relationship with loss that supports healing, agency, and self-reclamation. Holding degrees from Fordham and NYU, and extensively trained in trauma-informed modalities, Edy is also the author of It’s Grief: The Dance of Self-Discovery Through Trauma and Loss and It’s Grief: Notes to Self.

Content Description:

These sessions will equip therapists to work more thoughtfully with clients around food, weight, and body image, even outside a specialized eating disorder practice. The first addresses foundational gaps in clinical training—helping therapists recognize eating disorder symptoms, assess risk, and know when referral or consultation with eating disorder-informed providers is needed. It grounds this in an understanding of weight stigma, diet culture, and weight-inclusive/Intuitive Eating principles, while asking clinicians to reflect on their own relationships with food and body image and how those shape the therapeutic process.

The second session extends this lens to a timely and complicated issue: the rise of GLP-1 medications and their growing role in conversations about weight, appetite, and health. As clients increasingly bring these medications into sessions, therapists are caught between polarized cultural narratives—from uncritical endorsement to outright rejection—and this training helps them navigate that tension by examining how GLP-1 use intersects with healthism, diet culture, anti-fat bias, and medical stigma. Together, the two sessions build a throughline: helping clinicians move past oversimplified or moralized takes on weight and food, toward more informed, ethically grounded, and client-centered care.

Rethinking the Grief Model & Grief in the Room with Edy Nathan, MA, LCSW, CST Course Agenda

Live Online Zoom Session 1 – Rethinking the Grief Model – Friday, October 9th – 9-10:30am PDT/12-1:30pm EDT/5-6:30 BST – 1.5 CEs

Session 1 reframes grief by challenging traditional stage-based models, offering instead a more accurate map that recognizes loss as an identity-shaping experience that alters who we understand ourselves to be. It explores how grief often hides within trauma, chronic illness, relational ruptures, and unnamed losses, while shifting the therapeutic focus away from unrealistic "closure" toward building a sustainable relationship with loss. Emphasizing that cognitive insight alone rarely moves grief without addressing its physical presence in the body, the session integrates these concepts through practical case discussions and small-group reflection.

Session Agenda:

• 0:00–0:10 — Welcome and framing: what most clinicians were taught about grief, and where it falls short

• 0:10–0:30 — Grief as identity-shaping and non-linear: a working model for case conceptualization

• 0:30–0:50 — Grief hiding in plain sight: trauma, chronic illness, relational loss, and other unnamed losses

• 0:50–1:05 — Why closure isn't the finish line, and what a sustainable relationship with grief looks like

• 1:05–1:20 — Small-group case discussion: spotting grief in current caseloads

• 1:20–1:30 — Q&A and integration

Live Online Zoom Session 2 – Grief in the Room – Friday, October 23rd – 9-10:30am PDT/12-1:30pm EDT/5-6:30 BST – 1.5 CEs

Session 2 focuses on the clinical dynamics of grief, beginning with how to identify its common disguises in therapy—such as numbness, irritability, disconnection, and somatic symptoms. It introduces body-based techniques to help clients physically access and process grief beyond standard talk therapy, emphasizing the creation of an ongoing grief practice rather than pursuing a single point of resolution. The session also addresses how clinicians can navigate their own grief and reactions in the room, culminating in applied case practice, integration, and an open Q&A.

Session Agenda:

• 0:00–0:10 — Recap and bridge from Session 1: from understanding grief to working with it directly

• 0:10–0:30 — Recognizing grief's disguises in session: numbness, irritability, disconnection, somatic symptoms

• 0:30–0:50 — Body-based techniques for helping grief move, not just get discussed

• 0:50–1:10 — Building an ongoing grief practice with clients, rather than a single resolution point

• 1:10–1:25 — Applied case practice and clinician self-reflection: working with our own grief in the room

• 1:25–1:30 — Closing, resources, and Q&A

Rethinking the Grief Model & Grief in the Room with Edy Nathan, MA, LCSW, CST Learning Objectives

Session 1: Rethinking the Grief Model

1. Describe 3 limitations of the traditional stage-based model of grief and identify an alternative framework for case conceptualization.

2. Identify 2 forms of grief that do not present as classic bereavement (e.g., trauma, chronic illness, relational rupture) using a clinical case example.

3. Explain 2 reasons "closure" is not a realistic clinical goal, and describe an alternative therapeutic aim.

Session 2: Grief in the Room

1. Identify 3 clinical presentations (e.g., numbness, irritability, disconnection) that may indicate unacknowledged grief.

2. Demonstrate 1 body-based technique for helping a client access and process grief in session.

3. Describe 2 strategies for building an ongoing grief practice with clients rather than working toward a single point of resolution.

For Intermediate mental health professionals.

Continuing Education

This program offers limited Live CEs/Contact Hours.

Continuing education credit/Contact hours are awarded on a per-session basis, with full attendance required for the entire 90-minute duration.  There is no additional charge for the CEs.  Application forms and other required CE materials will be available to participants by the Academy of Therapy Wisdom.

NOTE:  To receive continuing education credit, applicants must complete all CE materials, comply with attendance regulations, and submit an evaluation form for the session attended. Information on how to obtain the CEs will be emailed to all participants who qualify within two business days of the live broadcast. It is the responsibility of the attendee to determine if CE credit/contact hours offered by Academy of Therapy Wisdom meet the regulations of their state licensing/certification board.  

Psychology:  This course does NOT provide CEs for Psychologists.

Counseling:

Academy of Therapy Wisdom has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7370. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Academy of Therapy Wisdom is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.  This program is approved for 1.5 CE Credit Hours for each live session for a possible total of 3 CE Credit Hours.

NY State Social Workers: Academy of Therapy Wisdom is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Workers as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers. #SW-0814.

NY State Mental Health Counselors: Academy of Therapy Wisdom is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0285.

Marriage/Family Therapy: See below for CAMFT information.

This course is $49 per month. You can purchase it here.