Development of a Creative Interventions Workbook for Adolescents and Young Adults Grieving the Loss of a Sibling

Katie Weiss

Date of Award

4-19-2016

Document Type

Undergraduate Capstone Project

Degree Name

Psy.D.

Organizational Unit

Graduate School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Nicole Taylor

Second Advisor

Mark Aoyagi

Third Advisor

Jeanne Floerke

Keywords

creative interventions, Sibling grief, Grief workbook, Adolescent grief

Abstract

The death of a sibling is a profound and terrible loss. It is a loss that is often unintentionally ignored in our society, and it is particularly difficult to process during the formative years of adolescence and early adulthood. Teens often prefer to try to work through problems on their own rather than reach out for help. Because of this, they may benefit from having a self-help workbook to guide them through the journey of healing. Creative interventions such as art, writing, and mindfulness have been found to be very helpful for the grief process. There are many teen grief journals available that include journal prompts to aid in the process of grieving a loved one, but very few that are specific to the loss of a sibling. These resources are comprised of prompts and some even offer a few ideas for activities, but very few explicitly walk the reader through the healing activity or art project. The unique challenges of sibling bereavement and the unique challenges of grieving as an adolescent or young adult coupled with the healing power of creative arts led to the idea for this project; the development and design of a creative interventions workbook for adolescents and young adults grieving the loss of a sibling. It includes contributions from over ten bereaved siblings who participated in a pilot study using these interventions, and their comments on the process as well. Contributors reported that the activities were helpful but also brought up difficult emotions.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. Permanently suppressed.

Extent

29 pages

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