Working with the Bereaved: an Attachment-Informed lens

Increasingly research in psychological resilience, post traumatic growth and neuroscience highlight the need for connection for humans to navigate loss and trauma. When connection is lost through death, it is natural to feel intense grief. Death may end a life, but that does not end the relationship. Attachment transcends death. The deeper the attachment we feel to the one who has passed, the more resilient we will be in the face of such loss. If one’s attachment roots were too thin or not deep enough, the loss can become ‘stuck’ and remain unprocessed. In this online workshop the clinical application of attachment principles for working therapeutically with clients facing grief due to the death of a loved one will be presented. We will examine how healthy attachment develops or can get ‘stuck’ and what impact this has on grief. We will learn that attachment has the power to transcend death and explore how an ‘earned secure attachment’ (Lyons-Ruth 1998) can be possible even after the loved one is gone.

Learning Outcomes

1. Gain a greater understanding of the power of deep relationships to increase resilience after the death of a loved one.

 2. Gain new knowledge about how healthy attachment develops through Neufeld’s six progressive levels throughout the lifespan. The deeper the attachment, the greater the resilience.

3. Apply your understanding on how death and loss are mitigated by secure attachment, helping clients enrich connection before the loved one passes to allow for a smoother grieving process.

4. Help client’s whose grief may get ‘stuck’ by helping to heal the attachment roots, leading to more resolution and psychological rest.

EVENT HOSTED BY NZAC

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