The Language of Loss: Modeling a Transformative Narrative of Grief

Abstract

This article is a fictional narrative that is based on the true experience of the author’s undergraduate fieldwork at a senior retirement community. Through its silences and suffering, the language of loss speaks through Jacob, a grieving widower, as the author compiles her field notes to make sense of his pain. The imagined lens of a patient–counselor dynamic serves an important role in being mindful of the collision between the theoretical and the interpersonal. By interweaving psychological theories and counseling experience, the creative narrative is grounded in the transformative dialectic between patient and counselor as they both navigate the space between grief and recovery. Ultimately, a relational-cultural approach begins to heal all who share the experience of this loss.PERSPECTIVES is a special feature included in this issue of the Journal of Creativity in Mental Health that provides mental health professionals with an opportunity to discuss their positions on a variety of creativity-related topics.In this article, Sophia E. Terazawa, writer and performance artist, shares her perspective on helping a client cope with the death of his wife. The story is based on Sophia’s experience working in a retirement community as part of her undergraduate field work.