Living with Loss Over Time: Integration, Identity, and Continued Bonds

Loss does not stop affecting us at one year. It is integrated, slowly, into who we are. This applied course addresses the longer arc of living with loss including identity rebuilding, relationships, and the continued bond with the person who is gone. By the end of this course you will be able to recognize the shape of integrated grief, rebuild identity disrupted by loss, sustain relationships that the loss affected, and develop a continued bond with the person you lost that fits your life. What you will learn: - The difference between acute, integrated, and complicated grief over time - Approaches to identity questions raised by the loss, especially after losing a parent or partner - Approaches to relationships that the loss disrupted or transformed - Practices to mark anniversaries, birthdays, and holidays meaningfully across years - Approaches to a continued bond with the person you lost that fits your beliefs - Approaches to meaning making that respect both the loss and what you are becoming - Approaches to supporting others through their own losses now that you have lived through one The course is structured around six applied modules. Each produces a written artifact: an integration assessment, an identity reflection, a relationship plan, an anniversary plan, a continued bond practice, and a support-others plan. This course is written for adults at least a year past a significant loss. By the end you will move from waiting for grief to be over to building a life that carries the loss as part of who you are, with steady practices and relationships that sustain you across years.