Earn Credit for 1 Technique Module toward
Certification in Grief Therapy as Meaning Reconstruction or
 Certification in Art-Assisted Grief Therapy
Offered by the Portland Institute.

This presentation educates learners on how loss challenges the bereaved’s identity as well as introduces mask-making as a transformative art therapy modality (superpower).  This module will harness the power of the visual arts to provide psychoeducation on loss and identity as well as teach the art-assisted grief therapy technique of mask-making.  Fictional case studies will include exploring modern-day superhero narratives to highlight the challenges these characters encountered in the aftermath of profound loss and the subsequent impact to their identities.

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Learners will be provided opportunities for individual and group processing on metaphorical learning and its use in grief counseling.  In addition, experiential learning will provide participants with an opportunity to explore and express an internal landscape and piece together a personal and/or professional experience of loss.  In this presentation, we examine the creative process of making and shaping what is given and engage mask-making through a creative experience and deep personal process work to widen learning.  At the core, this course will provide psychoeducation, increase counselor self-awareness and teach creative techniques in assisting the bereaved’s ability to embrace grief as a transformative process, and foster posttraumatic growth through the use of modern superhero grief narratives.

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Increase understanding of the utilization of the visual arts in which modern superhero narratives are explored as a creative, complementary strategy in grief counseling;

• Identify 2-5 challenges with identity that death-related loss poses to the bereaved;

• Learn the expressive art of mask-making from a grief-informed approach that is grounded in Restorative Retelling, Meaning Reconstruction, and the Dual Process Model; and

• Apply art therapy mask-making as a multi-faceted container for identity exploration in the aftermath of traumatic loss.

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Note:  Attendance of the live training session confers credit of 1 Technique Module required for Certification in Grief Therapy as Meaning Reconstruction or Certification in Art-Assisted Grief Therapy.

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COURSE PACK PROVIDES

• A PDF copy of the presentation slides;

• List of needed and suggested art supplies for the experiential; and

• Therapist Toolkit for Mask Making: Guidelines for orienting clients to Mask Making and question prompts for processing the process and product after the creative experience.

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ART SUPPLIES NEEDED​ (Click here)

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WEBINAR TIMING

• 9am-12pm, PST: Portland, OR, which corresponds to 12-3pm in New York, 5-8pm in London, and 6-9pm in Amsterdam.

The Zoom meeting link and the module materials will be emailed to all registrants in due course.

GRIEF TRAINING FACULTY​

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Guest Presenter

Jill A. Harrington, DSW, LCSW is an Adjunct Professor for the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Washington DC Campus as well as a Part-Time Lecturer for Rutgers University School of Social Work.  She also maintains an active clinical counseling practice in the Northern Virginia Area.  She earned her Doctorate in Social Work from The University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice, Philadelphia, PA, and is one of the first published authors on the subject of bereavement in U.S. military families.  She has been a practicing social worker for over 20 years and has had a special focus on trauma, loss, and bereavement.  She is a former Senior Director of Field Research, National Military Family Bereavement Study for Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS), Bethesda, Maryland, and has been a consultant to Columbia University Center for Complicated Grief.  She is active on many national and international committees and working groups, addressing bereavement, clinical practice, grief awareness, and education.  She is a member of The National Association of Social Workers Virginia Chapter, The American Association of Suicidology as well as a former Board Member (2011-2014) for the Association for Death Education & Counseling and currently serves as the Chair of the Conference Committee, Concurrent Program.  In her career, she has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.  She is the creator and lead editor of the new, creative textbook, entitled, Superhero Grief: The Transformative Power of Loss, published by Routledge in 2021.