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Digital Seminar

The Missing Stage of Grief: Clinical Strategies to Overcome Anxiety in the Wake of Loss


Faculty:
Claire Bidwell Smith, LCPC
Duration:
6 Hours 05 Minutes
Format:
Audio and Video
Copyright:
Dec 17, 2021
Product Code:
POS055280
Media Type:
Digital Seminar
Access:
Never expires.


Description

Anxiety is common, but the fear and anxiety brought on by grief is its own breed and needs to be treated as such.

Yet in the famous five stages of grief, anxiety has never been part of the equation. And traditional grief therapy has often failed to take the uniqueness of anxieties caused by loss into account. You’re left feeling out of your depth, unsure of the best way to move anxious and grieving clients forward.

Claire Bidwell Smith, LCPC is an acclaimed bestselling author and expert grief therapist whose memoir The Rules of Inheritance has been published in 18 countries and is being adapted for film. Her latest pioneering book Anxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief combines experiences from her therapy practice, research, and personal life to give concrete strategies to help people heal the anxiety caused by loss.

Watch her at this groundbreaking seminar as she shares the practical techniques, skills and tools you need to take your practice beyond Kübler-Ross’ five stages and help your clients process their grief on a deeper level, manage their anxiety, find relief, and reclaim their lives. Step-by-step guidance will have you fully prepared to employ a combination of cognitive behavioural therapy, deep grief processing, and meditation techniques so you can help your clients unpack their fears about mortality, better bare vulnerability, and get their anxiety under control so they can come to terms with their losses.

Purchase today and breathe a sigh of relief knowing you’ll be prepared to treat anxiety following loss, and bring greater healing to clients facing one of the most difficult things they’ll experience in their lifetime.

CPD


CPD
- PESI Australia, in collaboration with PESI in the USA, offers quality online continuing professional development events from the leaders in the field at a standard recognized by professional associations including psychology, social work, occupational therapy, alcohol and drug professionals, counselling and psychotherapy. On completion of the training, a Professional Development Certificate is issued after the individual has answered and submitted a quiz and course evaluation. This online program is worth 6.25 hours CPD for points calculation by your association.

Handouts

Faculty

Claire Bidwell Smith, LCPC's Profile

Claire Bidwell Smith, LCPC Related seminars and products


Claire Bidwell Smith, LCPC, worked as a therapist specializing in grief for over a decade and is the critically acclaimed author of three books of nonfiction: The Rules of Inheritance (Penguin 2012), After This: When Life is Over Where Do We Go? (Penguin, 2015) and Anxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief (Da Capo, 2018). 

The Rules of Inheritance is a coming-of-age memoir of a young woman forging ahead on a journey of loss that humbled, strengthened, and ultimately healed her. It has been published in 18 countries and is currently being adapted for film. Claire’s work has been celebrated by mental health advocates like Maria Shriver and New York Times Bestselling Author Cheryl Strayed.

Claire has written for various publications including The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Salon.com, Slate, Chicago Public Radio, The Guardian, Psychology Today and Yoga Journal.


Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Claire Bidwell Smith maintains a private practice and has an employment relationship with Conscious Grieving Inc. She receives royalties as a published author. Claire Bidwell Smith receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Claire Bidwell Smith is a board member of The End Well Foundation.

 


Objectives

  1. Explore the connection between grief and anxiety and the implications for grief treatment.
  2. Establish how clinicians can better recognize grieving clients who mask their anxiety.
  3. Specify how mindfulness and meditation techniques can restore a sense of calm and interrupt pervasive anxious thoughts.
  4. Characterize how techniques that help clients make amends with lost loved ones can help them overcome guilt driven anxiety.
  5. Specify how personal narratives and grief recovery letters can be utilized in the treatment of grief and anxiety.
  6. Communicate how clinicians can prepare themselves to work with anxiety in a variety of grieving client populations.

Outline

THRUST INTO A VULNERABLE PLACE:
How Anxiety Sneaks into Your Clients Lives during Grief
  • The link between grief and anxiety
  • Anxiety, loss and life’s unpredictability
  • Polyvagal Theory – how our bodies react to fear and sadness
  • Panic attacks, hypochondria and social anxiety following loss
  • Why anxiety surrounding death is unexpected
  • Complicated grief
TOOLS FOR ASSESSING GRIEF-RELATED ANXIETY
  • Where the traditional 5-stage model fails
  • How to measure intensity and duration
  • Identify grief and anxiety triggers
  • Recognize clients who mask anxiety symptoms
MINDFULNESS AND MEDITATION TECHNIQUES:
Calm Your Clients’ Anxiety and Open Them to Healing
  • Awareness techniques – identify where fear starts in the body
  • Mindful breathing to restore a sense of calm and peace
  • Simple mantras to rewire anxiety and grief
  • Exercises that free clients from pervasive thoughts
  • Reduce anxiety with present moment immersion
PRACTICAL COGNITIVE INTERVENTIONS:
Relieve Anxiety to Move Clients Forward
  • Strategies to normalize anxiety and panic attacks
  • CBT techniques for reducing anxious rumination
  • Exercises to break fearful thought-spirals
  • Make amends to overcome guilt driven anxiety
  • Replace fear with anchor thoughts
DEATH IS NOT THE END OF LOVE:
Creative Grief Processing Techniques to Rewrite Stories of Loss
  • Personal narratives to overcome anxiety and grief
  • Grief recovery letters
  • Exercises to overcome the fear of losing more
  • Maintain connection – death is not the end of love
WORKING WITH SPECIFIC POPULATIONS
  • Sudden deaths, violent deaths, and chronic illnesses
  • Loss of partner or child
  • Children’s grief strategies
  • Research limitations and treatment risks

Target Audience

  • Counselors
  • Social Workers
  • Psychologists
  • Marriage & Family Therapists
  • Case Managers
  • Nurses
  • Chaplains/Clergy
  • Addiction Counselors
  • Physicians
  • Nursing Home Administrators
  • Other Mental Health Professionals

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