What's New

William and his colleague Margotte Kaczanowska will present a full day pre-conference workshop on Wednesday October 20th as part of Bereavement Ontario Network's 20th annual provincial conference.

Stories Well Beyond the Grave:  Narrative Therapy and Grief Work will introduce participants to the maps of Narrative Therapy practice which are most relevant to helping those who mourn.  Particular attention will be paid to Remembering Practices which address the ongoing relationship we have with loved ones who have died.  According to William, "the majority of grief counselling models focus on helping us to say ‘goodbye’ to our loved ones, so that we can get on with our lives. While this is clearly important, the other equally important task we face is how to develop and maintain an ongoing relationship with those loved ones.  Narrative practices have made a real contribution in helping us to say hello as well as goodbye."

The one-day workshop takes place on the first day of the Bereavement Ontario Network's 20thAnnual Conference-- The Future of Bereavement Care:  Honouring Stories and Embracing Needs.  The workshop will be held on Wednesday October 20th from 9:00 to 4:00 and the main conference begins at 6:00 and runs until Friday afternoon.  It will be held at the Geneva Park Conference Centre on beautiful Lake Couchiching, 90 minutes north of Toronto in the splendour of the fall colours.  Information and registration for the full conference is available on the BON website www.BereavementOntarioNetwork.ca

Workshop Description

In the morning, William and Margotte will provide an overview to Narrative Therapy and Grief Work and will highlight the contributions of Michael White ("Saying Hullo Again") and Lorraine Hedke and John Winslade (Remembering Lives: Conversations with the Dying and Bereaved).  Included in the registration is complete buffet lunch where participants can meet with those attending a full day preconference retreat and take a walk through the gorgeous Geneva Park grounds.  After lunch there will be a live interview that demonstrates the practices introduced in the morning and will allow participants to take part as outsider witnesses if they wish.  The workshop concludes at 4:00 but participants are welcome to stay enjoy the hospitality of Geneva Park until 6:00 when the main conference begins.

To Register for Stories Well Beyond the Grave

You can register for only the one day Stories Well Beyond the Grave workshop through this site.  The registration fee includes 6 hours of training, all materials, a full buffet lunch and access to the Geneva Park site.  You can also choose to arrive early and enjoy a delicious buffet breakfast.

• $110 prior to September 20th.
• $125 after September 20th and until October 15th
• Add a full buffet breakfast to either rate - $14.50

The workshop is limited to 40 participants. To register you may call us at 416 762 0330 x 3 or simply send us an e-mail and include:

• your name,
• organization,
• address,
• phone number(s) and
• email address. 

Let us know if you'd prefer to send us a cheque or pay by credit card.  We cannot provide refunds after registration but you may invite someone to come in your place.

We hope to see you at Geneva!

Our work was greatly enriched this past year with the addition of two student interns to William's team. Sabrina Samsudeen was a Master of Social Work student from Ryerson University . Silvia de la Fe Gonzalez was completing a diploma in Peace and Conflict Studies at Conrad Grebel University College at University of Waterloo . Both women learned a great deal about Narrative Therapy, grief, loss and bereavement counselling and all that is involved in helping people within a diverse and busy private practice. According to William, "both women contributed much more than they received."

Sabrina is a person who makes things happen. On the first day of the MSW Program she introduced herself to Deborah Megens, the Ryerson MSW Field Placement Coordinator, and advised Deborah that she was interested in the option of finding her own placement. As a Bachelor of Social Work undergraduate, her most valuable placement had been one she arranged herself. She worked with a centre for dance and culture In Accra, Ghana doing AIDS education in communities and schools.

It was during that incredible experience that Sabrina realized she wanted to learn how to help people who were devastated by multiple losses. So she did her own research and brought Deborah to the door of William's practice. Deborah contacted William and, as you can read in the MSW Field Instructors of the Year Award story -- the rest is history. During her placement Sabrina participated in many hours of therapy, worked with several of our clients, co-led a bereavement support group, co-designed and marketed a new bereavement support group and fully shared in the life of the practice.

Silvia is also a person who makes things happen. After returning from a season of international aid and development work in Europe and South Sudan, Silvia enrolled in the Peace and Conflict Studies program believing, "it's impossible to achieve outer peace until we know inner peace." While contemplating vocation as a Secular Franciscan, Silvia studied at Waterloo.

Having been the benefactor of Narrative Therapy practices in her own life, Silvia became very interested in the work of Narrative Therapy co-founder Michael White's vision for "conflict dissolution" as opposed to conflict resolution in human conflict situations. She was able to combine the field placement with a directed reading course in Narrative conflict dissolution practices -- the results of which she brought directly to our work with clients.

As soon as Silvia graduated this spring, she began to work part-time with William providing research and client support. When a client needs resources, books, specialized help or resources, Silvia provides that support. She also shares her vast professional and life experience by supporting what William describes as "the depth dimension of the practice” -- website development, community development and client care and support. And as you'll read further on in "What's New," Silvia also provides Narrative Coaching as a compliment to the core work of counselling in the practice.

And...beginning in October, Sabrina will add to the "breadth dimension of the practice" as a part-time counsellor and group leader.

Congratulations and Welcome to Sabrina and Silvia!

I am delighted to add coaching to the services I provide to clients making needed changes in their lives. Whereas counselling provides the inspiration needed to dislodge the hold that problems have on people’s lives - coaching supports the perspiration needed to make the changes happen.  It’s estimated that up to 75% of what is required to make the most important changes in our lives is solid, responsible hard work.  Coaches are great for guiding this work.

Here's how it works. People seek counselling when problems have overtaken some important part of their lives or relationships.  Narrative Therapy sheds light on these problems– their histories, their tactics, their weaknesses, and most importantly, their alternatives.  In this way, problems are separated from people.  Then the real work of change begins.  Old practices are replaced with new ones. Hope emerges as discouragement and despair loosen their grip.

Up until now counselling has been the only forum for seeking inspiration and making change within my practice.  Now coaching and counselling can join forces. Here are some applications:

For a person who realizes a significant behavioural change is needed - to stop procrastinating, to make a health or lifestyle change, to improve communication, to stop a bad habit or start a good one - coaching can complement counselling by determining realistic goals, setting measureable objectives, providing accountability and offering  the support and encouragement needed to make the change.

For couples or partners or parents who realize their ways of communicating just don’t work. Once identified through counselling, new communication practices need to be understood, practiced, and practiced some more.

When it’s time to explore a new career counselling begins the conversation and provides the tests (we use Myers Briggs and the Strong Interest Inventory) – coaching gets the resumes in order and prepares for successful interviews.

Coaching is provided through my research and client services associate, Silvia de la Fé González.  Silvia was a student intern in my practice 2009-2010 while she completed a Diploma in Peace and Conflict Studies at Conrad Grebel University College (University of Waterloo) see From Interns to Team Members. Silvia is an experienced consultant, adult educator and mediator. She offers an optimistic attitude and a strong commitment to shaping reflective, self-directed experiences for those who have a desire to grow personally and professionally.

And coaching is cost effective.  The introductory fee for coaching in my practices is $50/hour. Coaching often occurs in four meeting blocks with a collaborative assessment in the fourth meeting.  I supervise Silvia's work, she writes collaborative progress notes and I stay abreast of the progress my clients are making. Counselling and coaching are normally two separate services. Here, they have joined forces, which provide continuity and team work for the clients of my practice.

Margotte Kaczanowska, Silvia Gonzalez, William Cooke, Martin Frith, Deborah Megens and Sabrina Samsudeen.

Each year, Ryerson University’s Faculty of Social Work invites MSW students and faculty consultants to nominate Field Instructors who have demonstrated exceptional support and guidance to students, for the Field Instructor of the Year Award. Sabrina Samsudeen, our Ryerson MSW intern, nominated William and his Narrative Therapy colleague and neighbour Margotte Kaczanowska, for this year’s honour.

Sabrina specifically sought William’s practice because of his specialties in bereavement counselling, Narrative Therapy and supervision. William immediately invited Margotte to collaborate in this endeavour. Together they worked with Sabrina from September until May of this year in providing opportunities to put theory into supervised practice for her 450 hour placement.

An important learning goal for Sabrina was to gain a solid foundation in grief, loss and bereavement counselling. Again William tapped into his network – this time to long time friend and colleague Martin Frith. Martin has facilitated the Living with Loss Bereavement program for Newediuk Funeral homes for the past 10 years. Sabrina sat in with Martin’s Whitby group in the fall and then co-led a group with him this spring. According to Martin, “I would have no problem leaving the group in Sabrina’s capable hands if I ever had to be away – she was outstanding.”

Based on Sabrina’s nomination letter and the comments made by her at the April awards luncheon, the wonderful outcomes of her field placement experience were largely due to the care, time and energy that went into planning and executing all of the basics of a successful practice. Specifically was the respect and mutually and inclusion that Sabrina felt from the very beginning of her placement.  In her nomination letter she told the story of being welcomed to William’s team at a Christmas breakfast. Included in the welcome was a box of her very own business cards! This gave her bragging rights with all of her classmates. Sabrina attached her card to the nomination letter.

When first approached by Ryerson's MSW Field Placement Co-ordinator, Deborah Megens, William replied that realistically, "it would take a whole village to raise an MSW intern.” The selection committee for Field Instructor of the Year concluded - this whole village did an excellent job.  Congratulations to William, Margotte, Martin, Silvia – and Sabrina: The Village People!