Julia Samuel: Creative Psychotherapy Tools for Grief

About the event

This recorded event will be available to watch on-demand during the festival. 

Julia Samuel MBE is a paediatric counsellor and psychotherapist, awarded an MBE in 2015 for her services to bereaved children. She’s Founder Patron of Child Bereavement UK and Vice President of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

We’re thrilled to welcome Julia back to Good Grief to speak with Dr Lesel Dawson, a lecturer from the University of Bristol, about her creative toolkit for dealing with grief.

Julia discusses the importance of externalising the relationship with the person who has died, instead of hiding it away and covering it up. Pain is the agent of change and without feeling the pain of grief it can be hard to process the loss.

She talks about the importance of using objects to remember and connect to people who have died, and the power of writing letters, visualisation techniques and other creative activities that allow you to connect imaginatively with the person who has died.

Julia also considers what you can do to support yourself when you are grieving, giving tips on how time can best be put to use, in processing your grief rather than purely ruminating on it.

Julia has authored two bestselling books, Grief Works and This Too Shall Pass. She’s involved in several Good Grief events this spring, visit her Facilitator page for details.

Dr Lesel Dawson is a Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Bristol, specialising in grief, Renaissance literature and the history of the emotions. She’s leading a research project on Creative Grieving and writing a book that explores how art and the imagination can enable the bereaved to express and process their loss.