By: Jessica Thomas, LMFT, PhD; Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Counseling, private practice, NW ADEBS Board President
2016 Thomas
Preparedness for the death of a loved one is an important contributor to caregiver wellbeing, bereavement outcomes and possibly even spiritual growth. Awareness, acceptance, and meaning making are key to a positive death experience and contribute to a shift in existential and spiritual perceptions. Mindful photography and journal writing can be practiced in such a way that is therapeutic and may increase awareness and opportunity for meaning making.
As a therapeutic method, Within and Without is grounded in a process that brings light to the wholeness of one’s experience through two modes of expression; visual imagery and reflective journaling. Learn how it can be an effective method in confronting thoughts and feelings associated with anticipating the death of a loved one.
- Explore and reflect on the lived experience of anticipatory grief.
- Learn the basic tenants of mindful photography (MP) and its connection to aesthetic awareness.
- Understand the practice as a therapeutic method in preparing for the death of a loved one.
About the presenter
Jessica Thomas holds an MS in Marriage and Family Therapy and a PhD in Psychology with an emphasis in Transpersonal Psychology. She is a therapist, grief educator, AAMFT certified clinical supervisor and organizational consultant that specialize in death, dying and grief at her private practice: Reflective Therapy & Consulting LLC. Jessica has been a hospice volunteer for over eight years and a volunteer for PDX Death Cafe’s—a movement working to open up the discussion of death in the greater community. She currently serves as President on the board of the NW Association for Death Education and Bereavement Support. As faculty at the graduate school of Lewis and Clark College, Jessica teaches on death, loss and psychospiritual crises, provides clinical supervision and teaches research methods. Her research, Mindful Photography and its Implications in End-of-life Caregiving: An Art-based Phenomenology focused on creative expression and the experience of anticipatory loss.
