The Crafting of Grief
The Crafting of Grief focuses on conversations that help people chart their own path through grief, supporting people by helping them craft their own responses to bereavement rather than trying to squeeze experiences into a model. This book can guide professionals who work with those living with grief to create loving conversations following the death of a someone they love.
Authors Hedtke and Winslade argue convincingly that therapists and counselors can support people more by helping them craft their own responses to bereavement rather than trying to squeeze experiences into a model. In the pages of this book, readers will learn how to develop lines of inquiry based on the concept of continuing bonds, and they’ll discover ways to use these ideas to help the bereaved craft stories that remember loved ones’ lives.
Keeping Relationships Alive
When a person dies, the bereaved are often tragically encouraged to say “goodbye” and complete unfinished business. Remembering practices aim to keep relationships alive by drawing on practices of story-telling, narrative legacy and rituals. Using these stories and rituals, relationships can develop new qualities following the death of a loved one. Grief becomes an evolving and creative opportunity for story development and change, rather than an unpleasant task to be worked through as quickly possible.

Supporting the Continuation of the Life of Stories
Remembering practices support the continuation of the life of stories rather than dwelling on the finality of death. When we understand that a relationship continues long after a person has died, we can appreciate how death provides opportunities for the telling loving stories that can be formed to construct future memories and guide our way through painful life transitions that often comes with the death of a loved one. We can employ the power of story to transcend physical mortality to promote the remembering of lives and the importance of maintaining connections.
Watch Lorraine’s Ted Talk Defining the Future of Grief Psychology with Love
