Description: Grief is a universal yet highly individualized experience that may include acute distress, anticipatory mourning, trauma-related reactions, and prolonged or complicated grief responses. While many individuals integrate loss over time, some experience persistent intrusive imagery, guilt, dysregulation, and meaning disruption that interfere with adaptive grieving. This training examines grief through the lenses of attachment theory, trauma response, and neurobiological processing, with particular attention to identifying trauma components embedded within loss.
This course provides clinicians with a structured framework for applying Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) to grief-related presentations. Participants will learn how ART can address intrusive imagery, trauma-laden memory encoding, maladaptive guilt narratives, and dysregulated stress responses while preserving attachment and continuing bonds. Ethical considerations, clinical timing, and therapist self-awareness in grief work will also be addressed. The training integrates current peer-reviewed research, case illustration, and practical application strategies.
Learning Objectives: By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
1. Describe key grief presentations, including acute, anticipatory, and prolonged grief responses.
2. Explain how memory reconsolidation principles support the use of ART in grief treatment.
3. Identify at least three clinical strategies for applying ART to grief-related trauma and intrusive imagery.
Duration: 120 minutes (2.0 Continuing Education Hours)
Delivery Format: Live Zoom training
Instructor Bio: Mary Anders, MA, LP, is a Licensed Psychologist and Master ART Therapist and Trainer, Clinical ART Specialist with extensive experience training clinicians nationally in Accelerated Resolution Therapy. She has presented at the International Society of Accelerated Resolution Therapy (IS-ART) Conference five times, including two presentations focused specifically on grief and trauma-informed loss treatment.
She has provided clinical services and professional training in diverse treatment settings and specializes in trauma-informed grief care, attachment-focused interventions, and clinician development. Mary integrates neurobiological, attachment-based, and experiential approaches in her teaching and clinical work.
Target Audience: Licensed mental health professionals trained in Accelerated Resolution Therapy®.
Instructional Methods:
• Didactic lecture
• Case illustration
• Clinical application examples
• Demonstration of ART language and interventions
• Interactive discussion
• Reflective prompts
• Question and answer period
Completion Requirements: Participants must:
• Attend the full 120-minute live Zoom training
• Complete the course evaluation
Certificates will be issued upon verification of attendance and receipt of completed evaluation. Partial credit will not be awarded.
