If death doesn’t mean saying goodbye to love, how are we freed to grieve differently? Conversations constructed using innovative ideas where relationship continues to matter after death are a challenge to prescriptive notions found in conventional grief psychology.

This talk will focus on where and how stories of love not only transcend death but can be grown and refashioned for deeply powerful connections that live on well beyond the time when our loved one is no longer breathing. Claiming stories of love that can vibrantly live on can offer an antidote to loss, providing purpose and meaning even in the face of some of the hardest moments in life. Lorraine Hedtke MSW, ACSW, PhD is a veteran narrative therapist who has turned the world of modern-day grief psychology completely upside down. She specializes in working within a post-structural, narrative therapy frame with people who are dying as well as with families after a loved one has died. Dr. Hedtke is a Professor and Coordinator at California State University San Bernardino in the Masters Counseling program and the proprietor of The Fabula Center for counseling and training in Redlands, California, and the website www.rememberingpractices.com.

Dr. Hedtke publications have appeared in numerous professional journals and magazines and she is the author of several books about grief. Her children’s book, My Grandmother is Always with Me, (2nd Ed), is written with her child, Addison Davidove. Her book, Breathing Life into The Stories of the Dead: Constructing Bereavement Support Groups, outlines an innovative and practical model for practice. She, along with John Winslade, co-authored two books on the topic: Remembering Lives: Conversations with The Dying and The Bereaved, and The Crafting of Grief: Constructing Aesthetic Responses to Loss. She regularly consults and presents virtually and in person around the world on how to create life and love affirming conversations with people who are dying and people who are living with grief. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx