About the Course
Although the death of a highly significant other naturally gives rise to grief over their loss, it also commonly confronts us with loss of parts of ourselves that were anchored in that relationship. This 2-day workshop extends our previous training on the Loss of Another, Loss of the Self by expanding our clinical toolkit for addressing self-reconstruction in the wake of bereavement, offering opportunities to try out a range of written, verbal, visual and arts-assisted methods for recognizing how the loss of another can erode our own sense of identity, while also opening pathways for necessary change and growth.
We begin by introducing a research-based visual analogue task for assessing the degree to which the lost other was included in the self, and reflecting on which if any of the traces of the relationship remain with us still. We then represent the masks of grief we often wear, and the possible discrepancy between the public selves that we project and the private selves that we protect. Subsequent methods help us symbolize our shifting community of self across seasons of change, to voice our own inner wisdom about how to become the person we wish to be as we move into a changed future, and to acknowledge aspects of our own growth anchored in our continuing bond with the lost other. Participants will complete the training with practical tools for assessing clients’ risks and resources stemming from their unique bond with the deceased, and several flexible procedures for fostering self-reconstruction in grief therapy.
Course Objectives
Discuss research on the Inclusion of Other in the Self (IOS) scale in bereavement and apply this visual analogue task to self-assessment of a significant relationship that has been or will be lost;
Use Masks of Self to empower children, adolescents and adults to unmask their grief and any unaddressed or hidden emotional pain;
Practice Seasons of Transition to explore significant shifts in our community of self across the course of loss and reconstruction;
Implement the Dialogical Self technique to construct a meaning bridge between two facets of personal identity that stand in some contrast or tension;
Conduct a Future Self Interview to foster self-compassion balanced with self-reconstruction; and
Measure Post-Loss Growth anchored in the relationship with the deceased, rather than arising from the trauma of the death per se.
Who Should Attend
Helping professionals, community/outreach workers, befrienders/volunteers, pastoral staff and others, who are keen in rendering bereavement support to those suffering from suicide-related loss.
Award
Participants who meet 75% class attendance will be awarded a Certificate of Completion by Portland Institute for Loss and Transition & Academy of Human Development.
For certification enquiries, please email carolyn@portlandinstitute.org
Your Trainer
Dr Carolyn Ng
Dr Carolyn Ng, PsyD, FT, MMSAC, RegCLR maintains a private practice, Anchorage for Loss and Transition (for more information, please visit: www.anchorage-for-loss.org). She also serves as Associate Director and Faculty with the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition in Portland, OR, United States. Previously, she was a Principal Counsellor with the Children’s Cancer Foundation in Singapore, specialising in cancer-related palliative care and bereavement counselling support. She is a registered counsellor, master clinical member and approved clinical supervisor with the Singapore Association for Counselling (SAC). She is also a Fellow in Thanatology (FT) registered with the Association of Death Education and Counselling (ADEC), USA; as well as a consultant to a cancer support and bereavement ministry in Sydney, NSW, Australia.
She is certified in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy and Narrative Therapy as well.
Carolyn first graduated with Bachelor of Arts from the University of New South Wales, Australia, majoring in psychology, followed by Master of Social Science (Counselling) from the Edith Cowan University, Australia and a Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry (Conflict Management) from the Trinity Theological Seminary, USA. She subsequently completed her doctoral training in psychology with the California Southern University, USA. She is also trained in the Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, USA, community crisis response by the National Organisation for Victim Assistance (NOVA), USA, as well as Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) by LivingWorks, Canada. She is a trained end-of-life doula and a certified Advanced Care Planning facilitator as well.
Her wide counselling experiences cover youth delinquency issues, marital issues, family violence issues, mental health issues, incarceration issues, grief and loss issues, and crisis interventions. She has varied supervisory experiences with such helping professionals as counsellors, social workers and therapists in diverse settings as well. She also conducts training workshops and presents on various topics in English, Mandarin and Cantonese, as invited by different organizations both in Singapore and other countries like Malaysia, Taiwan, Bhutan, Australia and United States over the years.
Testimonials
To Be Updated
To Be Updated
To Be Updated
