The Quiet Voices That Shape Us. Listening to our own grief in the work we do

In the spirit of the Come As you Are theme, this experiential and dialogical workshop invites participants to explore lived experience as a resource in therapeutic practice with families navigating loss, grief, death and dying. Informed by narrative therapy and social constructionist ideas, we are interested in how our lives and our work continually shape one another. 

Loss, death and dying are universal experiences. As therapists we meet families in these spaces not as neutral observers, but as people who carry our own histories of loss alongside those who come to us for support. This shared humanity creates both connection and complexity, shaping how we listen, respond and relate in therapeutic conversations. 

As practitioners, we bring our own experiences of loss, held in our bodies, our relationships, our cultures, our faiths, and our histories as well as the stories shared with us through our work and training. These stories may be spoken or remain unspoken, yet they influence how we listen, respond and relate. We understand these ways of knowing as situated within wider social contexts, including culture, gender, faith and generational perspectives on death and dying and as actively shaping the meanings that emerge in therapy. 

We work at Maggie's in Edinburgh and we hope to be joined by people who have used our centre, who will share aspects of their lived experience loss alongside us. These shared voices, including those of presenters, centre visitors and workshop participants, offer intersecting perspectives on dying, grief and therapeutic practice, as well as care and connection. We are interested in what becomes possible when these different forms of knowledge are brought into dialogue.

We aim to create a space where these stories can be held alongside one another. By bringing these experiences into conversation, we will explore how new meanings can develop and how these may inform and evolve our therapeutic practice in real and usable ways, supporting work that is collaborative, ethically attuned and socially responsive. 

Learning objectives

1. to explore how therapists and clients lived experiences of loss and grief inform therapeutic practice

2. to consider how intersecting GRACES shape meaning making in the context of death, dying and bereavement

3. to reflect on how shared storytelling can support the development of ethically attuned and socially responsive practice.