Using Relational Cultural Therapy in Grief Work
Friday, November 6, 2026 · 1:00 to 6:00 p.m. EST
live interactive virtual training
About this workshop
When someone experiences a loss, it can affect every part of their life. Identities shift, our understanding of the world around us changes, and sometimes our ability to connect with ongoing life diminishes. This workshop applies Relational-Cultural Therapy (RCT) to the work of accompanying grief. RCT’s focus on authentic connection and reconnection offers a way to support people living with bereavement and grief.
Using relational-cultural practices and concepts, we will practice staying present with uncertainty, listening to thoughts, feelings and bodily experience together, and exploring what remains meaningful in a relationship after death. Ecological mutuality brings the wider web of community, culture and place into the work. Concepts such as Relational Courage, Desire for More and Relational Permanence help us consider how chosen connection becomes possible alongside grief.
Drawing from The Grieving Brain, Attachment-Informed Grief Therapy and Relational-Cultural Therapy, we will offer case practice, experiential exploration and facilitated conversation.
Learning objectives
By the end of the program, participants will be able to:
- Describe two ways loss can affect identity, understanding of the world or connection with ongoing life.
- Describe two RCT principles relevant to grief work: mutual empathy and attention to culture and power.
- Utilize two techniques for describing physical sensations as they relate to grief
- Demonstrate two responses that attend to uncertainty and overwhelm with a grieving client.
- Formulate one invitation to explore Relational Permanence that acknowledges death and allows mixed feelings about the relationship.
- Identify two cultural or environmental influences on grief and one response that supports access or belonging through ecological mutuality.
- Explain the importance of the Five Good Things in a growth-fostering relationship, and how the fifth one, Desire for More supports integration of grief.
- Develop one client-led step toward chosen connection using concepts of Relational Courage
Participants will leave with a relational understanding of how loss can affect identity and connection, practice accompanying grief with empathy and uncertainty, and ways to explore continuing meaning and support chosen connection within a person’s cultural and community context.
Who this workshop is for
Beginning to intermediate application for social workers and other mental health clinicians. Some exposure to RCT is helpful; no prior RCT training or book reading is required. A brief orientation introduces the principles used in the activities.
Participants keep cameras on during instruction.
Proposed presenter: Amy Makice, MSW, LCSW; Meenaxi Palaniappan PhD
Registration
Accessibility requests: Amy Makice, amy@centerforconnection.org