IMPORTANT--PLEASE NOTE: The new date for this workshop has been scheduled!

Friday, April 11, 2025, 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

If you registered for the workshop scheduled in December, you will automatically be registered for the new date, April 11, 2025, 12:00-4:00 p.m. on Zoom. If you are not able to attend the rescheduled date, please send an email to the Lake County Suicide Prevention Task Force: prevention.lcsptf@gmail.com to request a refund. Please spread the word so that we will have an awesome group at this very important and incredible training.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:

Viewed through the lens of the Tripartite Model of Meaning Reconstruction in Loss, the death of a significant person by suicide presents profound narrative challenges to integrating the event story of the loss, reconciling the back story of the relationship with the deceased, and revising the personal story of the life of the survivor. In this module, we focus on the first of these impediments to making sense of the loss, grounding clinical recommendations and practices in recent conceptual and empirical contributions to understanding and addressing the needs of survivors.

​We begin with an overview of suicide and drug-related death, both of which have increased alarmingly in the past two decades. We then present a nested model of traumatic bereavement that highlights unique symptoms and struggles encountered by those bereaved by both causes and give particular attention to the multifaceted search for meaning in their wake. Drawing on the latest studies of the most prominent needs endorsed by survivors, we identify which unmet needs are most predictive of anguishing and prolonged grief symptomatology, and the role of meaning in mediating the impact of several evidence-based risk factors on bereavement outcomes. We will note cultural differences in suicide patterns most relevant to the audience and feature clients who differ in gender, relation to the deceased and type of loss.

​Turning from assessment to intervention, we first present and practice a creative technique for resourcing tragically bereaved clients to ensure their safety. We then review concrete guidelines for a meaning-focused therapeutic retelling of the story of the loss that buffers clients against re-traumatization while helping them make sense of both the event and themselves in its aftermath. Viewing frequent clinical videos to illustrate key concepts and interventions, and gaining hands-on practice with relevant tools and techniques, learners should complete this module with greater confidence and competence in addressing the needs of survivors of tragic loss with trauma-informed care.

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Note: This 4-hour CE module focuses on application of psychological assessment and/or intervention methods that have overall consistent and credible empirical support in the contemporary peer reviewed scientific literature beyond those publications and other types of communications devoted primarily to the promotion of the approach.

4 CEUs applied for: IAODAPCA, Counselor, and Social Worker, Marriage and Family Therapists (IAMFT) pending.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe recent trends in the incidence of both suicide and drug overdose and their implications for bereaved survivors;
• Recognize unique themes that distinguish responses to a continuum of loss by various causes;
• Summarize recent research on the expressed needs of survivors of both suicide and overdose loss and their implications for risk of prolonged grief;
• Implement one creative technique for reinforcing client resources for addressing traumatizing aspects of suicide and drug-related death; and
• List and define three procedures for mitigating re-traumatization while helping clients integrate the story of the tragic dying.

Dr Robert Neimeyer

Clinician, Academic and Author

Robert A. Neimeyer, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, where he also maintains an active clinical practice.

Neimeyer also serves as Director of the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition which offers training and certification in grief therapy.

Since completing his doctoral training at the University of Nebraska in 1982, he has published 30 books, including a series of volumes on Techniques of Grief Therapy and Grief and the Expressive Arts, the latter with Barbara Thompson, and serves as Editor of the journal Death Studies.

The author of over 500 articles and book chapters, he is currently working to advance a more adequate theory of grieving as a meaning-making process, both in his published work and through his frequent professional workshops for national and international audiences.

Neimeyer served as President of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC), and Chair of the International Work Group for Death, Dying, & Bereavement.

In recognition of his contributions, he has been granted the Eminent Faculty Award by the University of Memphis, made a Fellow of the Clinical Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association, and given Lifetime Achievement Awards by both the Association for Death Education and Counseling and the International Network on Personal Meaning.

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.