Main description:

Multidimensional Grief Therapy (MGT) provides counselors, social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists (as well as students in these fields) with a flexible program for assessing and supporting children and adolescents who have experienced bereavement. MGT is a strength-based intervention, designed to reduce unhelpful grief reactions that prevent adjustment, and promote adaptive grief reactions that enable children to cope better after a death. It also reduces associated symptoms of psychological distress and helps bereaved children and adolescents lead healthy, happy, productive lives. As young people grieve in different ways and "one-size-fits-all" treatments often lack effectiveness, MGT uses an assessment-driven, two-phased approach to effectively address the unique mental health needs of diverse youth. This manual provides a wealth of activities and handouts designed specifically to engage and empower youth after experiencing a death, including under traumatic circumstances.

Contents:

1. Overview of multidimensional grief therapy; 2. Multidimensional grief theory: the foundation of multidimensional grief therapy; 3. MGT pretreatment assessment interview: using evidence-based assessment and goal setting to guide individual treatment using MGT; 4. Caregivers as 'Co-facilitators' of children's grief; Session 1: Grief psychoeducation: what is grief?; Session 2: Emotion psychoeducation and identification: what am I feeling and why?; Session 3: Grief psychoeducation continued: how has my grief changed over time?; Session 4: Understanding caregivers as key grief facilitators: what can my caregiver do to support me?; Session 5: Understanding loss reminders and trauma reminders: what reminds me that they're no longer here? What reminds me of the way they died?; Session 6: Sizing up a situation: how can our thoughts change the way we feel or act?; Sessions 7-9: Loss narrative: telling the story of my person; Session 10: Graduation and launching into the future: what does it mean to have a 'good goodbye'?; Index.