Understanding Grief Through Existential Analysis

To register, go to: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/understanding-grief-through-existential-analysis-tickets-590526158637

Abstract: A common thread among various iterations of grief and bereavement theory is a rhetorical structure which describes grief as being a type of work, with tasks and phases that the grieving individual ought to accomplish in order to move past feelings of loss. Furthermore, there appears to be a common temptation to pathologize the individual process of grieving when one appears to be unable to move through these phases of grief.

As a response, this webinar aims to teach about a non-pathologizing approach to grief and bereavement through the phenomenological theory of Existential Analysis (EA): a comprehensive framework of four fundamental existential motivations (FMs) to understand our being in the world. The theme of the second fundamental motivation (FM2) pertains to one’s relationship with life (“Do I like being alive?”) experienced through one’s feelings and impulses which reveal one’s values. Naturally, the process of grief and bereavement is found here in FM2, as it is a loss of what makes life feel valuable and worth living.

After introducing participants to a summarized understanding of the EA framework, this webinar will offer an existential analytical understanding of grief, followed by practical suggestions for grief accommodation and end-of-life care.

Presenter: Sebastian Wingfield is a Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC) with the Canadian Counselling & Psychotherapy Association (CCPA); and has extensive training in Existential Analysis from the Viennese School of Existential Analysis & Logotherapy. Sebastian is the owner and lead therapist for Wingfield Counselling & Psychotherapy Services. Outside of therapy, Sebastian is professionally involved in research, training, and consultation with various organizations. For more information, visit his website at: www.wingfieldcps.com.

Moderator: Clara Dyck, RN, MSN, CHPCN (C), Education & Resource Leader, NOHS . Clara is expert in community engagement to ensure people are prepared for their end of life journey. She is research partner with Dr. Sharon Kaasalainen and McMaster University in the Strengthening A Palliative Approach in Long Term Care and Associate Member of the Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Preventions, University of British Columbia. Since 2018 she has been the Education and Resource Leader at North Okanagan Hospice Society. She uses her expertise and knowledge of death and dying to support people along the care continuum from diagnosis of a life limiting illness to bereavement, at all the healthcare touch points. She ensures her community has the knowledge, resources and access needed when they die. Her breadth of knowledge of end-of-life care ranges from whole person symptom management, Advanced Care Planning to care of the dying in a culturally sensitive trauma-informed manner.