David Kessler On Grief and Grieving

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David Kessler is one of the world’s foremost experts on healing and loss. His experience with thousands of people on the edge of life and death has taught him the secrets to living a happy and fulfilled life.

He is the author of six bestselling books. His new book is Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief. His first book, The Needs of the Dying, a #1 best-selling hospice book, received praise by (Saint) Mother Teresa. He co-authored two bestsellers with the legendary Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: On Grief and Grieving and Life Lessons. His most newly released book is You Can Heal Your Heart: Finding Peace After Breakup, Divorce or Death with Louise Hay. He worked with Elizabeth Taylor, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Marianne Williamson when their loved ones faced life-challenging illnesses. He also worked with late actors Anthony Perkins and Michael Landon. David’s work has been discussed in the Los Angeles Times, Business Week and Life Magazine, and has been featured on “Brené Brown, CNN-Cross Fire”, NBC, Fox, PBS, “Dr. Oz” and “Entertainment Tonight”. David is a contributing writer on Oprah.com, Dr. Oz’s Sharecare.com, “Anderson Cooper 360” and “The Huffington Post”.

David has a master’s degree in Health Care Bioethics from Loyola Marymount University, he did his undergraduate work at University of Southern California and is a member of the American College of Health Care Executives. He is a certified AMA/EPEC (Education for Physicians) trainer. He also is the founding chairperson for the Hospital Association of Southern California Palliative Care Committee and spent the last decade as a C-suite executive in a 650 bed – three hospital system in Los Angeles County.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: David Kessler receives compensation as Vice President of Patient Support Services for Citrus Valley Health Partners. He is an author for Simon & Schuster – New York and receives royalties. Mr. Kessler receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc.
Nonfinancial: David Kessler has no relevant nonfinancial relationship to disclose.

Additional Info

Program Information

Click here to purchase the DVD or CD recording from our product store.

To order the book, You Can Heal Your Heart, please visit our product store.

To order the book, On Grief and Grieving, please visit our product store.

To order the book, The Needs of the Dying, please visit our product store.

To order the DVD, Understanding the Needs of the Dying, please visit our product store.

To order the book, Visions, Trips, and Crowded Rooms, please visit our product store.

To order the book, Healing Grief Card Deck, please visit our product store.

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Target Audience

• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Nurses
• Case Managers
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Chaplains/Clergy Hospitals
• Palliative Care Services
• Other Mental Health Professionals

Outline

• Treatment strategies
• Tools for normalizing anticipatory grief for the patient/client

• Tools for preparing for the loss
• Interventions for coping enhancement for funerals
• The forgotten grievers
• Learn the truth about children going to funerals and open caskets

• Simplifying the model
• Murder, multiple losses, sudden death, suicide
• Alzheimer’s

• Delayed
• Disenfranchised
• Ambiguous
• Inconclusive
• Complicated
• Average response
• Resilience

• Learn alternatives to forgiveness
• Understand when it works and why it doesn’t
• Learn techniques your client can use to actually find forgiveness

• Understand how grief of suicide is different
• Learn techniques for releasing feelings of responsibility
• Tools for healing grief after suicide

• Help understand how we hold grief in our body
• Learn techniques your client can use to get in touch with residual grief in the body
• Understand the ways the body remembers

• How we often re-traumatize ourselves in grief
• Learn the difference between releasing grief and replaying traumatic events
• How vicarious trauma can affect the clinician

• Learn how positive psychology can be used in healing grief
• Understand why clients may treat themselves harshly in grief
• Learn new ways to decrease suffering after a loss

• Learn why pet loss is just as significant as other losses
• Understand why clients may not reveal loss of a pet
• Learn new ways to help with feelings of exaggerated responsibility

• Learn how to take care of ourselves when being surrounded by loss
• Understand why we sometimes over identify with clients
• Understand if it’s helpful to self-disclose about the clinicians loss

• Learn what to say and what not to say
• Understand proven strategies that will help clients heal themselves while not getting lost in others’ grief
• Tools for normalizing anticipatory grief for the patient/client

• Bullycide
• Anniversaries
• Holidays – the seen and unseen
• Birthdays

• Shootings/hurricanes/earthquakes and terrorist acts
• Techniques for approaching horrific crime and/or disaster scenes
• The impact of natural vs. manmade disasters

Objectives

1. Explore the dynamics of different types of grief and the healing processes associated with each.
2. Specify age appropriate grieving milestones that occur across the lifespan.
3. Articulate the somatic response to grief and identify how to manage residual grief in the body.
4. Consider why children are often the “forgotten grievers” and identify strategies for helping this population.
5. Analyze the efficacy of positive psychology interventions in treating grief.
6. Ascertain the relationship between traumatic events and grief as it relates to the healing process.