For many bereaved individuals, faith, religion, and spirituality can prove to be a supportive and comforting resource following the loss of anyone or anything that leaves a sense of deprivation and yearning. However, for some who are grieving, the relationship to their higher power or spiritual community is painfully wounded, leading to the secondary loss of his/her/their spiritual resources, connections, and spiritual crisis.
The painful religious and spiritual losses are referred to as complicated spiritual grief (CSG). CSG has been shown to exacerbate the bereavement experience for some religious and spiritually inclined grievers. Clinicians are confronted with religious and spiritual topics in psychotherapy, especially when working with bereft clients. Therefore, knowing how to identify the impact of CSG in the grieving process is imperative. Clinicians will be able to recognize the impact of CSG on the bereaved’s grieving process, increasing skills in conducting a comprehensive clinical assessment and development of effective treatment plans. As a result, grief therapy will more effectively identify and treat all domains of the client’s functioning following or anticipating a loss.
The incidence of youth suicide requires that schools and communities collaborate and increase suicide prevention efforts and that they be prepared to respond if a suicide occurs in order to reduce suicide contagion. This presentation will help school and community mental health personnel increase their understanding of the most common factors in youth suicide. Participants will learn effective strategies to prevent youth suicide and lessons from the aftermath of numerous suicides.
As more providers are learning about trauma and becoming trauma-informed, it’s crucial to not only focus on trauma but equally important to focus on resilience. Resilience impacts how one responds and recovers from trauma. This training will provide an overview of understanding trauma and formal assessment measures to assess trauma as well as therapeutic activities to assess trauma. Next, the training will provide an overview of resiliency and strategies to assess it with clients. Lastly, the training will provide strategies to foster resilience with clients.
This workshop
will provide an overview of shame and involvement in the commercial sex
industry and how it can present in treatment. The workshop will also focus on
strategies to heal shame with youth and young adults who have been commercially
sexually exploited. The presenter will share information on shame resilience
and self-compassion.
Why topic is important: Involvement in the commercial sex
industry can carry a lot of stigma and shame. When individuals don’t heal their
shame, it can linger and negatively impact their lives. So, it’s crucial for
providers to understand the heaviness of shame with commercially sexually
exploited youth and young adults and learn strategies to support their healing.