.jpg)
Continuing Bonds in Bereavement: Insights from Research and Grief Therapy Practice Dr Edith Steffen, University of Roehampton
Event details
Grief: A Study of Human Emotional Experience Lecture
Over the past 25 years, something of a revolution has taken place in the world of bereavement research and practice, as maintaining bonds with the deceased has become not only an accepted aspect of bereavement but is increasingly seen as a potentially desirable accompaniment or outcome of grief. Drawing on the presenter’s research and clinical experience in the field of continuing bonds and grief therapy, this talk will introduce the continuing bonds perspective, describe how continuing bonds can manifest in practice and what meanings they may entail for the bereaved. It will focus particularly on how continuing bonds may become the focus of grief therapy and counselling, for example when the goal is to help people access and deepen continuing bonds as a helpful resource, and also where continuing bonds are difficult or hampered, showing how therapeutic interventions may help facilitate, renew and reconstruct bonds in helpful and meaningful ways.
About the speaker
Dr Edith Maria Steffen is a Senior Lecturer in Counselling Psychology at the University of Roehampton and an HCPC registered Counselling Psychologist in private practice. Her research focuses on continuing bonds in bereavement, on sensory and quasi-sensory experiences of the deceased and on meaning-oriented grief therapy. She has published her research in journals such as Death Studies, Omega: Journal of Death & Dying, Mental Health, Religion, & Culture and Journal of Constructivist Psychology. In 2018 she was co-editor of Continuing Bonds in Bereavement: New Directions for Research and Practice. Her current projects include a survey of continuing bonds, The Handbook of Grief Therapies for Sage and Working with Continuing Bonds in Grief Therapy for Routledge.