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A “READER'S THEATER” INTERVENTION TO MANAGING GRIEF: POSTTHERAPY REFLECTIONS BY A FAMILY AND CLINICAL TEAM
Author(s) -
Levac Anne Marie C.,
McLean Sue,
Wright Lorraine M.,
Bell Janice M.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0606.1998.tb01064.x
Subject(s) - grief , intervention (counseling) , operationalization , wright , psychotherapist , psychology , family therapy , crisis intervention , psychological intervention , accidental , social psychology , psychoanalysis , psychiatry , epistemology , art , philosophy , physics , acoustics , art history
The sudden and accidental death of a child can be one of the most devastating events in the life of a family. This paper describes one couple's reflections of their grief and mourning following the death of their adolescent son as well as the clinical team's reflections of therapy. The uniqueness of this paper is that it offers a “reader's theater” intervention that enabled further change to occur. The clinical team used a belief model, emphasizing that altering constraining beliefs is at the heart of healing from such tragedies as sudden death (Wright, Watson, & Bell, 1996). This approach is operationalized through therapeutic conversations between family members, clinician, and clinical team. Interventions such as reflecting teams, therapeutic letters, and “homework tasks” were used to modify or challenge constraining beliefs of both the family members and the clinical team members. However, the intent to co‐author a paper with this couple provided the serendipity intervention of a “reader's theater” that further served to identify, affirm, and solidify facilitating beliefs.