Workshop

Ambiguous Loss and The Myth of Closure: A Resiliency Approach

Description

In the world of loss and grief, people often suffer from what Pauline Boss calls "ambiguous loss": loved ones disappear physically (with no proof of death), or psychologically (from cognitive impairment). The ambiguity complicates and traumatizes, and the lack of closure plays havoc with meaning, identity, attachment, agency, ambivalence, and hope. Because the problem is relational, traditional grief and trauma therapies are insufficient. Resiliency lies in one's ability to embrace ambiguity, not easy in a can-do culture. With this resiliency-based approach, Dr. Boss offers useful clinical guidelines, cultural updates, and opportunities for self-reflection and case analysis.

Faculty: Pauline Boss, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota and author of Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief (Harvard University Press, 1999), Loss, Trauma, and Resilience (Norton, 2006) and most recently, Loving Someone Who Has Dementia (Jossey-Bass/John Wiley, 2011).
 
Date: Friday, April 20, 2012
Time: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Tuition: $128
CE Credits: 5