Narrative Therapy Summer School: Narrative Therapy and Grief.

William Cooke and colleagues Margotte Kaczanowska and Suzanne Thompson were invited by Angel Yuen, to teach a module on Narrative Therapy and Grief at the annual Narrative Therapy Center Summer School  July 9th-12, 2012 in Toronto.  Approximately 75 people participated.

They presented “Goodbye and Hello: Narrative Therapy and Grief”.  Here is the description of that presentation:

"So many therapeutic metaphors and practices emphasize closure and moving on as the primary markers of healthy grief and mourning. Those who can't or won't move on have often been seen as "resistant" or experiencing some form of "pathological grief".  NarrativeTherapy, as well as helping us to accept and say good-bye to those aspects of a relationship that have truly died, has opened new doors to "Saying Hello!" to the ongoing relationship with our loved ones that always existed and transcends death."

The workshop combined theory, participant exercises and a live Narrative interview with a workshop participant and four Outsider Witnesses. 

The leaders led a follow-up group with a dozen Summer School alumni in the fall of 2012 to provide an opportunity to learn about and experience these concepts in a small group setting.  Similar workshops have been provided to:  The Bereavement Ontatio Network Annual Conference (a full day pre-conference workshop); Dr. Olga Sutherland's graduate class in the Couple and Family Therapy program at the University of Guelph; the clinical team of the Max and Bea Wolfe children's bereavement program at the Temmy Latner Centre for Pallitative Care at Mt. Sinai Hospital.