Working with Ambiguous Loss
Grief and Closure
NOW CLOSED
Friday 7 October 2022
A Live Webinar with Professor Pauline Boss
CE Credits: 4 hours
- Includes a subtitled recording of the event and a transcript, with access for a year (14 days post the event)
- Bookings close at 4.00am EDT Tuesday 4 October 2022
In this workshop Dr Pauline Boss will share how to work effectively with ambiguous loss, a ubiquitous yet understated phenomena that differs in its effects and expression from unclear loss. An ambiguous loss might arise, for example, from the disappearance of a loved one, declining health or ecoanxiety. It lacks the clarity of a loss through death, divorce or critical illness and its impact on mental health is far less obvious to others.
READ MORE...Often it may be unresolvable, internalized, and difficult to communicate, and the individual’s symptoms can be the sole focus of treatment while the context goes unnoticed.
Pauline however, challenges the idea that we need closure from such losses. Rather, she suggests, people can come to live well with the grief if they can find meaning in it, often in creative ways, and new purpose and joy in life. For such a situation of loss, a therapy based on stress and resilience is required, and the capacity in the therapist to hold the ambiguity deep within themselves is essential. The workshop will provide a road map for working with this kind of loss offering guidance on meaning, mastery, identity, ambivalence, attachment, and a new hope.
FULL PROGRAMME
09.00 EDT
Introductions
09.05
Ambiguous loss and its effects
Pauline will outline the characteristics of ambiguous loss is and its two types: psychological and physical. She will explain how ambiguous loss differs from loss from death and how its effects are evident in individuals, families, and communities. Through this presentation it will become clear why knowing about ambiguous losses matters today for mental health professionals. She will offer a framework for therapy and intervention that is primarily stress and resilience-based as opposed to a medical model.
09.45
Q&A
10.00
Break
10.15
Building resilience and accepting paradox to live with ambiguous loss
The focus of this session will be on ambiguity as the stressor and how symptoms are a result of the context, not personal or familial weakness. There will be discussion on new ways of thinking about ambiguous losses, for example, ‘both-and thinking’ as the way to live with the ambiguity surrounding the loss. The disadvantages of binary thinking, either/or thinking versus absolute thinking will be discussed. An example of the ambiguity in an unresolvable loss might be “he is probably dead and maybe not” or when caring for someone with dementia “she is both here and gone“. The myth of closure as an end of grief will be discussed as it pertains to both ambiguous losses and the clear loss of death. We will consider continuing bonds as a way to work through losses, rather than detachment and closure.
11.00
Q&A
11.15
Break
11.30
Guidelines for therapy and interventions for individuals and families
Pauline will present six recursive guidelines for building the strength and resilience to live with ambiguous loss. These guidelines are focused on finding meaning, adjusting mastery, reconstructing identity, normalizing ambivalence, revising attachment, and discovering new hope. She emphasizes the flexibility of the guidelines, and how to apply them as a road map for therapists to help individuals, families, and communities live with the ongoing grief and loss when there is no certainty about a loved one’s whereabouts or status as dead or alive. Sadly, in most cases of enforced disappearance and missing, families never obtain certainty, so we must help them to live with the ambiguity of unanswered questions. This is not easy in mastery- oriented cultures. To end, we will consider how professionals can increase their own tolerance for ambiguity for we cannot bring patients and clients farther than we can go ourselves.
12.15
Discussion with Chair
12.30
Q&A
13.00
End
FEES (USD)
Bookings close at 4:00am EDT Tuesday 4 October
Live Webinar:
$110 (Member $55)
(Click here to become a member)
Includes a recording of the event
CE
This event is accredited by:
- NBCC
Certificates of attendance for 4 hours will be provided.
To receive the full CE credits, you are required to attend 100% of the live event. No partial credit will be given.
This event is NOT accredited by the following organisations:
- ASWB
- NYSED (Psychology)
- NYSED (Psychoanalysis)
- NYSED (Social Workers)
Please note that if you are unable to attend all of the live event, you will need to undertake our event specific test in order to receive the CE certification. This will be made available soon after the live event has taken place.
Please contact events@conferonline.org for any further questions.
Confer has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7136. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Confer is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
VENUE
This is a live online webinar using Zoom software. Zoom is free to download and use.
For more information about Zoom click here.
To download Zoom free of charge click here.
For special accommodations for individuals with disabilities see our FAQs.
SCHEDULE
Friday
09.00 EDT Introductions
09.05 Ambiguous loss and its effects
09.45 Q&A
10.00 Break
10.15 Building resilience and accepting paradox to live with ambiguous loss
11.00 Q&A
11.15 Break
11.30 Guidelines for therapy and interventions for individuals and families
12.15 Discussion with Chair
12.30 Q&A
13.00 End
CONTENT LEVEL
- Intermediate
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Describe what ambiguous loss means and its effects, and how it differs from ordinary losses.
- Summarize what resilience is, the diversity in the ways it is revealed, and cautions about expecting resilience.
- Apply the Six Guidelines for Therapy and Interventions when working with individuals and/or families experiencing ambiguous loss.
TARGET
AUDIENCE
- Psychologists
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychotherapists
- Addiction Professionals
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Psychiatrists
- Other related mental health professions.
BOOKING CONDITIONS
Regrettably, refunds cannot be given in any circumstances except as follows:
- You cancel in writing to info@conferonline.org 60 days before the first date of the event you have booked, in which case you will be entitled to a 100% refund.
- You cancel in writing to info@conferonline.org 30 days before the first date of the event you have booked, in which case you will be entitled to a 50% refund.
This does not apply to parts of an event such as a seminar within a series but only to a whole event or complete series. You may give your place to another person if you let us know that person's name at least 24 hours before the event begins.
We reserve the right to change a speaker at one of our conferences without offering a refund. However, if a solo presenter cancels we will offer a full refund OR transfer of your fee to another Confer event. If the entire event is canceled we will offer you a full refund.
We reserve the right to change our prices at any time. Regrettably, discounts offered after you made your booking cannot be claimed or applied retrospectively.