The Creative Toolkit for Working with Grief and Bereavement: A Practitioner's Guide with Activities and Worksheets

The one book you need to help your grieving clients move from heartache to hope. - Heather Stang Understanding loss and its effects is integral to effective counseling and support in the treatment of grief. This book is both a guide to the key theories of bereavement, and a practical workbook that can be used with clients to help them understand and work through their grief in a positive, transformative way. Divided into two parts, the first section presents current models of grief used by thanatologists, and advice on when to apply them, these models provide a springboard to deepen the conversation with clients, allowing them to discover insights, consider memories and express their pain. In the second part of the book, creative exercises encourage clients to engage with their stories and actively apply their discoveries to their own healing. Offering a straightforward guide to bereavement models and therapeutic approaches, with photocopiable exercises and worksheets, The Creative Toolkit for Working with Grief and Bereavement is a valuable resource for information on grief and how to help grieving clients, and an invitation to explore creative possibilities for healing.

About the Author :
Claudia Coenen, CGC, FT, MTP is a certified grief counselor in private practice at The Karuna Project in Hudson, New York. She presents workshops using expressive modalities on grief, on fear and uncertainty in complex situations and vicarious trauma in the workplace. Claudia is a fellow in thanatology through the Association for Death Education and Counseling and holds a Masters in transpersonal psychology, with a focus on creativity and innovation.

Review :
This exceptionally thoughtful and practical book belongs on the shelf of anyone who works with bereaved people, which sooner or later is anyone in a helping profession. A wealth of therapeutic tools grounded in theory, supported by research, and presented within a cohesive treatment approach. This is a book that will inspire experienced grief counselors and those who are new to the field to explore the rich potential of art, movement and other creative paths to healing from loss. Claudia Coenen's insightful and compassionate book The Creative Toolkit is a treasure trove of current perspectives on grief, creative ideas and exercises, and useful resources for practitioners who work with grieving clients. As a psychotherapist specializing in grief, I am eager to explore her marvelously creative exercises with my clients. Her book is a blessing! This is the one book you need to help your grieving clients move from heartache to hope. Grounded in modern grief models that are flexible enough to accommodate individual differences, yet solid enough to provide much needed support, Coenen elegantly transitions theory into practice with the creative activity sheets that allow clients to explore their grief in a holistic way. From somatic exercises to reflection, art, and journaling, the wide range of activities in this toolkit has something for everyone, no matter where they are on their grief journey. Ultimately the partnership formed between practitioners and clients who take advantage of the innovative activities in this workbook will be healing, meaningful, and even transformational. I no doubt will keep The Creative Toolkit for Grief and Bereavement close by on my desk! Claudia Coenen's latest book is an excellently organized, highly informative resource on grief and the experience of loss that is a valuable resource to all practitioners in the healing professions. The first portion of the book provides an easily understandable overview of how grief touches our lives in a myriad of ways, how different and universal the grief journey is, and how creativity can help the grieving individual find his or her own way of transforming their experience of loss into new ways of being and relating to the world. The second portion of the book provides hands on, easily accessible ways that we as practitioners can expand outside of traditional verbal therapies to offer our clients ways to tap into their creative energy to help themselves heal and grow. As a clinical psychologist who sees clients with a wide variety of different concerns, I found that Coenen's toolkit has applicability and usefulness for many of these individuals, regardless of whether they are seeking support for a specific loss that he or she has experienced. Claudia Coenen's The Creative Toolkit for Working with Grief and Bereavement is a lovely guidebook and bible for those working with clients dealing with grief. Claudia's book provides some wonderful how-to exercises to use with bereaved clients, indicating which exercises are most beneficial with the client's current process in dealing with loss. In addition, she provides a wonderful foundation of historical information related to how grief has been addressed, the changing views on supporting someone going through loss, as well as her own personal experience with this challenge. As a seasoned person-centered expressive arts therapist who has worked with those dealing with traumatic loss and bereavement, I feel enthusiastic about her literary contribution and believe it to be a great resource for those working with loss, grief, and bereavement, especially those using expressive arts therapy.