‘When those we love die, we lose a witness to our lives’ and ‘our web of connections is torn’.
After great loss, the grieving have to re-define who they are, make sense of what’s happened, and find meaning and connection in a world that is significantly changed for them. Dr Robert Neimeyer, grief researcher and therapist, discusses with Denise the important role that meaning plays in helping us adapt to and cope with significant loss and change.
Listen as Bob explains why grief is such an individual experience: ‘it matters who we are, who we lose, and how we lose them’.
This episode is part 1 of a 2-part conversation with Bob Neimeyer. Join us again for part 2.
Bio
Dr Robert Neimeyer’s work on meaning making after loss, and grief and growth has advanced understanding of grief and improved our ability to support those experiencing it. A Professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, Bob is both a researcher and a therapist with an active clinical practice. He is Director of the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition, which offers training and certification in grief therapy. Author of 30 books and over 500 articles and book chapters, his enormous contribution to this field has been recognised with Lifetime Achievement Awards by both the Association for Death Education and Counselling and the International Network on Personal Meaning.
