SEMINAR WORKSHOPS and Activities
We have a variety of sessions available throughout the weekend. Our workshop presenters are leading experts in the field of grief and loss, and you'll have the opportunity to gain tools and resources for your grief journey. You may choose which workshops and activities to attend at your leisure.
Make sure to download the TAPS seminar mobile app. This mobile app puts advance details about the seminar right in the palm of your hand. Recommended session schedules for different grief programming and speaker information are all built into the easy-to-navigate app. There will be information about off-site activities, evening events and reminders for Good Grief Camp parents.
You can also check out the seminar schedule and presenters.
A Return to Creativity — Writing the Way — Rev Laura Biddle: Writing is a wonderful tool for healing after loss by suicide. Through letter writing, creative writing and journaling, we will return to the art of creating words that heal and help us keep hope alive.
Artful Grief: Open Art Studio — Sharon Strouse, MA, ATR-BC, LCPAT: The Artful Grief: Open Art Studio is a safe, sacred and quiet space for participants to create their own artwork in response to their personal journey and experience healing and transformation. The studio will serve as an "art-making" sanctuary that meets the ongoing needs of attendees throughout the conference. No talent required, only the willingness to be with what is in your heart, for “a picture is worth a thousand words.” As part of the Artful Grief: Open Art Studio experience, Sharon will share her own journey of healing through the creative process of collage making. A few of the collages she created will be on display as she answers questions about the images that arose from her loss. There will be a designated TAPS Exhibition Space where participants may display their artwork. These heartfelt images will serve as markers along the path to healing, will stimulate conversation and make sacred the shared journey.
Artful Grief Studio Special Project: Healing Sticks/Medicine Sticks/Prayer Sticks or Talking Sticks: Healing Sticks, Medicine Sticks, Prayer Sticks and/or Talking Sticks come out of aboriginal and native American traditions. They are symbolically important to those of us who are crossing the “desert” while on our grief journeys. These long, narrow ceremonial objects, crafted from tree branches, and measuring the distance between your elbow and fingertips, are decorated with paint, feathers, beads, twine, leather and various found objects. They serve to empower us on our difficult journey through the sun-baked desert, embodying our prayers or petitions, clarifying intentions, strengthening inner resources and emboldening our voice through freedom of expression. They are tangible objects of hope and healing, reflecting our choices as we move through the wasteland toward growth and new life. Join us and craft your personal Healing, Medicine, Prayer and/or Talking Stick of Hope.
Combined 12-Step Group Meeting: Open to members of any 12-Step Fellowship, these meetings are being held Friday and Saturday at 9 p.m. The meetings will be conducted based on the 12-Step model first developed by Alcoholics Anonymous and will be chaired by Franklin Campbell, a longtime member of several 12-Step Fellowships. TAPS welcomes anyone attending this weekend's survivor seminar who is a member of a 12-Step Fellowship to attend the meetings, but the meetings are not affiliated with TAPS.
Education Services: Understanding your Education Benefits — Ashlynne Haycock: Are you or your children heading off to college in the near future? Considering going back but not sure if you can afford to? Want to know about how the new Forever GI Bill impacts you? Or just looking to get an overview of the many benefits and scholarships available to survivors? Then this session is for you. We will discuss federal, state and private scholarship opportunities available to survivors as well as FAFSA, VA paperwork, college applications and address any questions you may have about higher education.
Faith in the Desert — Hope in the Wilderness — Rev. Laura Biddle: With the guidance of a few Psalms, we will talk about the wilderness of grief. Learning to trust that hope shines gently from the wilderness, we will find glimmers of hope in the desert. Come feel what you feel, find hope in the honest connections with one another, and remember the power of love that never dies. Adapted from Psalm 77: I yell out to my God, I yell with all my might, I yell at the top of my lungs. I found myself in trouble and went looking for God, my life was an open wound that would not heal. When friends said, “Everything will be alright.” I didn’t believe a word they said. I remember God — and shake my head. I bow my head — then wring my hands. I’m awake all night — not a wink of sleep; I can’t even say what’s bothering me. I go over the days one by one. I ponder the years gone by. I strum my lute through the night, wondering how to get my life together. Adapted from Psalm 121: I look into the desert; will my strength come from the vast wilderness? My strength comes from the creator of heaven, earth, mountains and desert. I won’t be left alone to stumble. I will be sheltered, guided and shielded from the sun that burns and the moon that feels like darkness never ends. Today, I will see glimmers of hope in the desert.
Finding Hope in the Desert of Your Grief — Dr. Frank Campbell: This workshop will return to the morning theme of finding hope in the desert after a suicide death and claiming it for yourself. Once you discover the hope and drink from it you will learn how to replenish that hope and even share it with others.
Finding Love (Again) After Loss — Dr. Shauna Springer: This workshop will focus on common emotional experiences among survivors who have lost a spouse, with a specific focus on the multiple potential layers of traumatic loss for suicide survivors. Common fears associated with finding love again will also be explored through discussion and reflective writing. Finally, workshop participants will be offered tools, critical insights and an understanding of a process for restoring their inner guide and moving forward in finding new love relationships.
Grieving Couples: How to Survive a Desert of Loss Together — Dr. Shauna Springer: This workshop will focus on three central questions that together determine what makes committed partnerships satisfying or distressed. The impact of traumatic loss on relationships will then be discussed and explored using a private reflective exercise. Couples will learn about common ways that relationships get stuck after loss. Most importantly, participants will be equipped with insights that will allow them to navigate loss while keeping their relationship strong.
Hope Glows: On Saturday, directly after our TAPS dinner for adults on the West Courtyard, we will head to the adult pool area to create a beautiful glowing display together of messages of hope, love and care — for ourselves, for our loved ones and for each other.
Illuminate the Night with Hope: During dinner on Sunday we will decorate luminary bags to honor our loved ones — and maybe even our new (renewed?) feelings of hope for our grief journey. Directly after dinner, we will head over to the beautiful Falls Water Village area. We’ll greet the setting desert sun with pathways of our luminary bags to light the way. Enjoy the peaceful sunset amid the glow of your TAPS family.
LGBTQ Meet-up: All are welcome to attend this meet-up, held Friday and Saturday from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., whether you identify within the LGBTQ community, are an ally, or if you feel you need additional support on how to support someone you love who is struggling with their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. A loss of self (who am I?) is something that naturally occurs in both identities of being bereaved, as well as identifying within the LGBTQ community. This group will allow you to be your authentic self and to mourn without fear of judgment while you share your lived experience.
Maintaining (Honoring) the New Relationship — Rev. Laura Biddle: Discover once again that love endures all things, hopes all things, believes all things. Relationships, like love, continue to inform our lives; they never die. Learning to forgive ourselves and others is a sign that relationships yearn for attention, even after death. Come and share your story — and discover ways to attend to the lasting nature of relationships that are rooted in love.
Mask Making — Sharon Strouse, MA, ATR-BC, LCPAT: Masks and mask making are ancient and powerful tools, used in the process of healing and the journey toward wholeness. Evidence of their use can be found on the walls of caves as far back as 12,000 years ago. You will harness your innate gifts of imagination and your ability to create and, like your ancestors, use the magic of mask making to explore various aspects of your persona, find new ways to communicate hidden thoughts, feelings and memories, reclaim joy and reopen locked doors. Masks reveal, conceal and forever memorialize all at the same time. The mask making process is an opportunity for healing and transformation. Casting material will be used to create an authentic mask of your face. Vaseline will be applied to your face and then wet casting material will be overlaid. This will set and dry for a time and then be removed from your face. You will work in pairs throughout the creative process and share your experience at the end of the workshop. Your mask will dry completely overnight and you will be able to decorate it the following day in the Artful Grief Studio.
Men’s Grief: Yes, It IS Different — Dr. Frank Campbell: Men grieve in different ways and have different needs when it comes to talking about the grief they are experiencing. This workshop allows that expression in an informal and open manner for those men who are attending our event. Please come and gather for this men-only session.
Mind-Body Medicine for Healing Trauma — Dr. James Gordon: The sudden death of a loved one is traumatic. It often causes anxiety and agitation and fills our mind with disturbing, as well as loving, memories and images. Sometimes we have difficulty moving ahead with our lives, and with maintaining an intimate connection with others whom we love. This workshop will provide participants with practical techniques for reducing stress, moving beyond emotional and physical stuck places, and balancing love and honor for the one who has died with a mindful embrace of present reality and future possibilities.
Moving Through and Beyond Trauma and Grief — Dr. James Gordon: This workshop will focus on integrating the various tools that participants have learned to use in the Saturday workshops on "Mind-Body Medicine for Healing Trauma" and "The Trauma Healing Diet." Dr. Gordon will help participants to deal with obstacles in implementing programs of self-care of family and community healing. He will use a guided imagery exercise to mobilize each participant's capacity to take the next steps in healing.
Our TAPS Garden of Hope in the Desert: On Saturday in the East Courtyard and Sunday in the Palm Terrace, adults are welcome to come contribute to our TAPS Garden of Hope. We’ll have a mini succulent potted plant for you to decorate, add your loved one’s photo and display on our Garden of Hope Wall. Hope can grow, and does, even in climates where growth may seem all but impossible. Our Garden of Hope in the Desert will honor our loved ones and be a beautiful example of how much hope, support and love our TAPS family gives us! Sunday evening, after dinner, the garden will be in the Falls Water Village area; you can come and remove your succulent from the wall to take home with you.
Parents Panel: Surviving the Loss of Your Adult Child — Moderated by TAPS Surviving Dad/Staff Member Don Lipstein: Parents on the panel will share their stories while being asked specific questions about how they managed to move through their own grief together and apart. We’ll explore the challenges many face, as well as offer some ideas to help navigate through those challenges.
POUND Fitness Class — Instructor Jessica Aguilar: It's time to bring a different sound to your grief. And that is the sound of noise! We won't be tiptoeing quietly around our feelings; we'll be using weighted drumsticks to create a connection between music, movement and everything you want to let go. Bring your feelings, your frustrations and readiness to sweat. Modifications exist for all fitness levels.
Talking About Suicide: At Work, At Home, At the Supermarket — Dr. Frank Campbell: This is a workshop that can help you find your voice and tell your story your way. Routinely, survivors have the challenge of telling their story in a way that gives others information while keeping you safe from the stigma and confusion surrounding a death by suicide. Knowing a few simple techniques can help change discomfort of the past into education for those who are able to learn from you.
Telling Your Story Publicly: Safe and Strategic Sharing — Linda Langford, Sc.D.: Losing a loved one to suicide is a devastating event, and, for many survivors, there is a need to make meaning out of their loss. Some survivors chose to tell their story in hopes of saving a life and to honor the legacy of their loved one. If you are thinking about telling your story publicly or would like to learn more about how to tell your story safely and strategically, this session is for you. Come talk about sharing your story publicly – if you do it, when you do it, why you do it, and the potential impact of sharing your story on yourself and for those with whom you share your story. We’ll share key practices of professional presenters and resources to guide your journey.
The Sibling’s Journey: Family Changes When You Lose a Sibling — Facilitated by TAPS Surviving Sibling Staff Members: Losing a sibling to suicide can be, for the surviving siblings, utterly life-altering. This panel of surviving siblings will candidly share their feelings on what this loss has been like for them, the changes in their own lives and family since the loss, and what insight they can share with other siblings and family members grieving a suicide loss.
The Trauma-Healing Diet — D. James Gordon: Psychological trauma disturbs every aspect of our physiology as well as our psychology. Emotional distress compounds the disturbance to our GI tract and to every aspect of digestion. This workshop provides an overview of the damage that trauma does to our brain and our gut and practical, evidence-based ways to use food, supplements and herbs to repair the GI tract and restore resiliency to our brains.
Troops Together: Remembering our Battle Buddies Group: If you’ve served alongside someone who died by suicide your grief and loss matters. Come together with other active duty military members and veterans in our safe space to honor those losses and discover that you are not alone. Share as much or as little as you feel comfortable, knowing that TAPS is here to support you as a grieving survivor, too.
Understanding Why People Died by Suicide — Dr. Carla Stumpf-Patton: When someone we love and care for dies by suicide, it can be overwhelming and confusing and bring with it many emotions and questions. It can feel like our world has been split into countless fragments where we become detectives trying to understand how and if it will ever fit back together again, which often includes an endless list of questions around why and how this could have happened. While we may never fully understand the exact thoughts in the mind of our loved ones at the time they died, researchers and specialists in the field do know a lot about the suicidal mind. Understanding more around this subject matter can often help suicide loss survivors in the grieving process as they struggle with the self-directed questions of blame, guilt, doubt and regret. This session will address some of the prominent theories around why people die by suicide. It will also explore some of the contributories and risk factors that can come together in forming the “perfect storm” that leads to suicide, and how survivors of loss can continue to heal with this knowledge.
Updates in Suicide Prevention From the Department of Defense and VA — Dr. Keita Frankin and Dr. Adam Walsh: Come hear updates on previous DoD suicide prevention initiatives, learn about the latest research and outcomes and have an opportunity to share and ask questions with senior executives from the Defense Suicide Prevention Office. This session is suggested for TAPS Peer Mentors and longer-term survivors only.
Young Adults Meet-up: Please join us Friday from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. for a gathering for surviving children or siblings ages 18 to 25. We will find ourselves among our peers, those who walk a similar path. We will come together to build a community to comfort each other as we learn new lessons and skills this weekend that will aid us in developing a healthy lifestyle we can sustain. Together we can build resilience, find balance and plan for our futures.
SEMINAR WORKSHOPS
We have a variety of sessions available throughout the weekend. Our workshop presenters are leading experts in the field of grief and loss, and you'll have the opportunity to gain tools and resources for your grief journey. You may choose which workshops and activities to attend at your leisure.
Make sure to download the TAPS seminar mobile app. This mobile app puts advance details about the seminar right in the palm of your hand. Recommended session schedules for different grief programming and speaker information are all built into the easy-to-navigate app. There will be information about off-site activities, evening events and reminders for Good Grief Camp parents.
You can also check out the seminar schedule.
Workshop and Activity Descriptions
SPECIAL ACTIVITES
Saturday and Sunday, 6:30 a.m.
Sunrise Hike | Hotel Lobby
For attendees ages 10 + up (under 18 must be accompanied by an adult). Led by volunteers from Changed by Nature, a local nonprofit organization that provides free outdoor opportunities to wounded warriors, veterans, law enforcement, first responders, disabled, handicapped, and our youth generation to get outdoors and do anything from gold panning to hiking, hunting, fishing, kayaking, 4x4ing, and much more. Bring water and your camera!
Friday, 12 p.m. - 5 p.m. | Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
The Artful Grief: Open Art Studio with Sharon Strouse MA, ATR-BC, LCPAT | Suite 5001
A safe, sacred, and quiet space for attendees to explore their grief in creative ways. The studio is a richly appointed “art making sanctuary,” curated and hosted by skilled and compassionate art therapists. Whether you are a curious novice, a seasoned artist or someone who isn’t sure where to begin, the studio will meet your ongoing needs throughout the weekend. No talent required, only the willingness to be with what is in your heart, because “a picture is worth a thousand words.”
Sharon will also share her own journey of healing through the creative process of collage making. A few of the collages she created will be on display as she answers questions about the images that arose from her own loss. There will be a designated "TAPS Exhibition Space" where participants may display their art work. These heartfelt images will stimulate conversation and make tangible our shared journey.
Saturday, 9 p.m. -10:30 p.m.
Game Night
Interactive games to decompress amongst your peers. For Young Adults, ages 18 to 25.
Sunday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Our Family Photo Banner | Grande Building
There will be a digital photo booth in the Grande building along with a new TAPS Family banner. Bring with you new friends you’ve met this weekend, or TAPS family you’ve reconnected with to get a photo souvenir to take home … and one to put on our TAPS Family banner, too. Our journeys continue, and our TAPS family is a loving, supportive example of the healing and growth that is possible after such traumatic losses. We can “remember the dash” of our loved ones, and also live our OWN dash as legacies to them, with our TAPS family at our sides.
WORKSHOPS
Saturday, 1:30 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Recognizing and Addressing Grief & Trauma, for yourself and your Loved Ones | Dr. Shauna Springer | Salon J
Some emotions – for instance, feelings of personal shame or the wordless horror of witnessing a trauma, can block the progress we can make to heal from events that involve both grief and trauma. In the worst-case scenarios, we can remain stuck in a type of pain that is not productive, sometimes for many decades. Targeting trauma and grief requires us to recognize how these are different emotional experiences that require different treatment approaches. Dr. Shauna Springer, the Senior Director of TAPS Suicide Prevention & Postvention, will describe the differences between grief and trauma so that we can recognize them and address them, for ourselves and our loved ones who may be impacted by grief, trauma, or both grief and trauma.
Finding your grief rhythm: A journey toward healing | Jennifer Keeling and Dr. Carla Stumpf-Patton | Salon I
After the death of a loved one, it can seem as if time stands still and the pain of loss will never end. In response to grief, survivors often feel unprepared by being left with the unfamiliar, and often fearful task, to cope with a sudden loss such as a death by suicide. Grief can bring with it, a rhythm or pattern of emotions which twist and turn, wax and wane, and ebb and flow, where the bereaved attempt to find ways to make it through each day in spite of the physical absence of their loved one. This session will discuss options to effectively cope with the rhythms of grief, how to regulate emotions in anticipation of significant dates or milestones, and how such concepts can help us to integrate loss in our lives as we navigate the healing process.
Create a Vision Board…craft your future | Sharon Strouse | Artful Grief Art Studio: Suite 5001
A vision board is a way to visually represent what you desire in your life as you move forward. Vision boards are collages of images cut from magazines, personal photographs, and inspirational phrases glued or taped to a surface like a poster. The creative practice suggests that visualization leads to the realization of goals. Some people create vision boards yearly and others create with a more long-term perspective. The process helps to clarify goals, hopes and dreams. It helps to focus your thoughts about what is truly important, to open your mind to possibility and feel inspired to move forward. Positive thinking leads to positive outcomes, supported by the necessary “action” to achieve that future. Vision boards are motivational tools that build self-esteem, teach goal-setting, prioritizing and can make you more proactive. Join us in the Artful Grief Studio for an experience of self-exploration grounded in your willing and open capacity to try something new.
To Bless the Space Between: Grief and the Spiritual Realm | Rev. Laura Biddle | Salon G
Day-to-Day rituals such as grocery shopping, driving kids to school, attending seasonal festivals, eating breakfast, or cooking a delicious meal, can be catalysts for deep despair and sorrow. The simple tasks of real life are reminders that life will never be the same after a suicide. Grief after suicide is excruciatingly painful, especially when it gets hold of your heart in the middle of life’s normal tasks. If you have led a faithful life, you can’t help but wonder “Where is God in all this?” The space between this new complicated life and, a spiritual realm that promises healing and comfort, may seem like an enormous chasm. Come to this workshop to explore hope beyond the suicide; love beyond the death; and faith beyond comprehension. Come bless the space between you and your loved ones.
Why can’t we all just get along? When families get knocked out of whack after suicide loss | Dr. Frank Campbell | Salon H
Family dynamics after loss can be complicated. This presentation will examine the conflicts that arise within a family system when grief changes the dynamics. Survivors attending will have an opportunity to share struggles they have experienced to determine what support might be available or ways they can change the dynamics.
Post Traumatic Growth: What is it? How do you know if you’ve grown? | Dr. Melinda Moore | Salon F
Posttraumatic Growth is a new concept of Positive Psychology that has begun to be applied to the experiences of suicide bereaved. But, what is Posttraumatic Growth and how do you tell if you have experienced it? In this session, we will cover what Posttraumatic Growth is and what research tell us about people who are suicide bereaved, especially research on TAPS recipients and peer mentors.
A roundtable conversation with people who have made their careers in country music - as artists, producers and songwriters. For Young Adults, ages 18 to 25.
WORKSHOPS
Saturday, 3:30 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Should I go to Therapy? Addressing Mental Health Concerns Among Survivors of Suicide Loss | Dr. Shauna Springer | Salon J
Suicide loss has a devastating impact and has been associated with increased risk of depression and, potentially, suicidal thoughts, among surviving loved ones – even for those with no history of mental health concerns. This seminar offers an honest, open conversation about risk factors and provides information about therapies that can address survivors’ needs. For example, we will discuss symptoms that may benefit from professional interventions. Dr. Shauna Springer will “de-mystify” what therapy is and how it works. She’ll describe several specific therapies such as Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), Prolonged Exposure (PE), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), which can bring healing to survivors of suicide loss. She’ll also describe how TAPS partners with leading healthcare organizations and community-based providers to ensure that our survivors have access to high quality therapy, if needed.
Understanding Why People Die by Suicide | Dr. Carla Stumpf-Patton | Salon I
When someone we love and care for dies by suicide, it can be overwhelming, confusing, and bring with it many emotions and questions. It can feel like our world has been split into countless fragments where we become detectives trying to understand how and if it will ever fit back together again, which often includes an endless list of questions around why and how this could have happened. While we may never fully understand the exact thoughts in the mind of our loved one at the time they died, researchers and specialists in the field do know a lot about suicidal mind. Understanding more around this subject matter can often help survivors of loss in the grieving process as they struggle with the self-directed questions of blame, guilt, doubt, and regret. This session will address some of the prominent theories around why people die by suicide. It will also explore some of the contributories and risk factors that can come together in forming the “perfect storm” that leads to suicide, and how survivors of loss can continue to heal with this knowledge.
Remember the Dash | Dr. Frank Campbell | Salon H
Remember the Dash…Headstones often note the date of birth and date of death and between those dates is a dash that is intended to mark the life of that individual. Clearly for so many the date of death is the focus, especially when it is sudden and traumatic. Remember the Dash is a workshop that encourages the life to not be erased or replaced by a dash. Participants will be encouraged to share life affirming stories of their loved ones to reclaim the life from the stigma of suicide.
Suicides that affect the Lives of Faith Leaders: The Human Being being Human | Dr. Melinda Moore and Rev. Laura Biddle | Salon G
When a faith leader experiences suicide, their relationship with God, Allah, Buddha, Yahweh, with a higher power or a Great Spirit, is affected and challenged. Suicide reaches into the human soul and forces us to ask real questions. As leaders of faith communities, we must wrestle with our own beliefs and doubts. Come join the conversation regarding the response of a few spiritual leaders who are survivors of suicides close-to-home.
Postvention Toolkit, presented by the Defense Suicide Prevention Office | Dr. Adam Walsh | Salon F
Unspoken: Embracing your Story | Carol Carr and Renee Monczyznski | Salon E
Suicide is often a secret whispered among families or friends, never spoken about at full volume. A fellow survivor will share her story with a family suicide and how to embrace your story and develop true connections with others as you heal from your loss. Utilizing blackout poetry to create a storyboard of before, during and after your loss will allow participants to develop the whole story. For Young Adults, ages 18 to 25.
WORKSHOPS
Sunday, 9 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.
Laugh Yoga | Amber James, Certified Laughter Yoga Leader | Salon D
Ever want to test the old saying, "Laughter is the best medicine?" Well, laughter after loss is possible and you don't even have to be in a good mood to try it. "Dr. Madan Kataria, a laughing guru, says that the practice of laughter can be particularly useful in grief; "laughter exercises coupled with deep breathing changes the physiology, thereby changing the mood state and helping a person to view the situation differently. It is a cathartic exercise which helps release pent up feelings and makes people emotionally balanced." This session will be introducing Laughter Yoga and will explore breathing and light stretching techniques to help us relax. No yoga pants required, but you may be asked to remove your shoes.
Non-Denominational Remembrance Service | Rev. Laura Biddle | Palm Terrace
Join us for this time of quiet meditation, gentle remembering, and healing music. We will share loving memories and name the ones we love. Bring a memory-item to decorate the center altar: photos, trinkets, badges, ribbons, name tags. We will close the service with a circle of unending love.
Mindfulness Walk | Hotel Lobby
Writing Workshop | Lalaine Estella, MPH, CT | Courtroom Q
Doll Making….the fabric of your life | Sharon Strouse | Artful Grief Art Studio, Suite 5001
Dolls and doll making are woven into the fabric of our lives from ancient times to modern times. They are as important to adults as they are to children and serve a variety of functions from passionate hobby to healing talisman.Create a doll of your choosing, one of personal reflection and symbolic of self or one which commemorates a lost love and explore your continuing bond. We will provide a soft pliable muslin doll form, fabrics, lace, trim, yarn, buttons and a variety of materials, weave together fantasy and reality, harness your imagination and with it, all the healing potential and possibility it contains. Feel free to bring personal fabrics and/ or personal articles of clothing, yours and your loved ones, which will be cut and torn, deconstructed and reconstructed into a lasting, loving and tangible object. Doll Making will be an ongoing experience within the Artful Grief Studio but this special session will be more about discussing the process and why it is so impactful.
Breathing while Grieving | Donna Naslund RN, 200 hour RYT, Certified Chair Yoga Instructor | Courtroom R
When we grieve, we feel it in our bodies. One of the first things to change and become compromised is our breathing. Our muscles become tense, our posture collapses, we are curled forward around our broken hearts and our breathing becomes tight, constricted, short, shallow and barely there. Breathing better can help us feel better. Breathing is a powerful resource we can harness to create a sense of well-being, and vitality in our bodies. This workshop will explore simple movements and breathing techniques to help you release tension, ease anxiety, boost physical energy, focus and clear the mind and create a sense of calmness and well-being in the mind, body and spirit.
Music Therapy for Grief | Tim McAlee, Music Therapist | Salon A
Music is an inherent part of our life and culture. It can change our mood, give us hope, trigger strong memories, and mark important occasions. Tim McAlee, Board-Certified Music Therapist and veteran of the U.S. Army, will present on music therapy as a treatment modality when dealing with trauma, grief and loss. He will discuss strategies for using music as a positive outlet and support and share personal stories of how music has helped in coping with the loss of several members of his cohort. This presentation will include interactive music making and audience participation through singing and playing rhythm with small percussion instruments (to be provided).
I Am Enough | Renee Monczynski, Jimmy Garcia and Carol Carr | Highland 3
In this interactive workshop, participants will learn skills to reduce self-criticism and shame, and rebuild confidence and self-worth. Inspired by finding their own strengths, participants will be empowered to continue this affirmation process in their daily lives, while producing a canvas that can travel with them to home, school or wherever life may lead them. For Young Adults ages 18 to 25.
WORKSHOPS
Sunday, 1:30 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Continuing the Conversation with your grieving kids | Dr. Carla Stumpf-Patton and Diana Wright | Salon F
Opportunities to help grow with TAPS | Kellie Hazlett, Lalaine Estella and Sharon Paz | Courtroom R
This workshop will offer ways you can take the next step in your journey and help others through TAPS programs and events. Discussions will focus on TAPS Peer Mentor program; how to use writing to give your journey a voice; what it takes to host a TAPS event in your hometown; and other volunteer opportunities. You will come away with the building blocks to use your talents and experience to be an inspiration to others and be an active participant in the loving support of TAPS.
How to Facilitate Posttraumatic Growth: Living a More Intentional Life | Dr. Melinda Moore | Highland 2
We know that grief and healing are natural processes, but is it possible to facilitate Posttraumatic Growth by living more intentionally? This session is full of examples and stories of how a bereaved individual can facilitate their own growth by engaging in activities, both big and small, and what those might look like for different people.
So you want to be a suicidologist? | Dr. Frank Campbell and TAPS Suicide Preventtion & Postvention Team | Salon E
Many loss survivors at some point in their journey feel led to become involved in the field of suicidology. This session will discuss the many different avenues that can take, how to know you’re “ready” and what your next steps could be.
Building a New Relationship with your Loved One | Rev. Laura Biddle | Highland 1
We believe that love doesn’t die and that relationships live beyond death. Using journals, poetry, letters, drawings, and compassionate conversations, we will explore ways to deepen your relationship with your loved one who has died by suicide. If there is a need to forgive or be forgiven, this time will help foster the healing process. If you are lonely and wondering how to move forward, this interactive session will offer a way to take the first step.
EPICS Career Guidance | Karen Anderson | Highland 3
For Young Adults ages 18 to 25.