A READERS THEATER INTERVENTION TO MANAGING GRIEF - POSTTHERAPY REFLECTIONS BY A FAMILY AND CLINICAL TEAM

The sudden and accidental death of a child can be one of the most deva stating events in the life of a family. This paper describes one coupl e's reflections of their their grief and mourning following the death of their adolescent son as well as the clinical team's reflections of therapy, The uniqueness of this paper is that it offers a ''reader's t heater'' intervention that enabled further change to occur The clinica l team used a belief model, emphasizing that altering constraining bel iefs is at the heart of healing from such tragedies as sudden death (W right. Watson, & Bell, 1996), This approach is operationalized through therapeutic conversations between family members, clinician, and clin ical team. Interventions such as reflecting teams, therapeutic letters , and ''homework tasks'' were used to modify or challenge constraining beliefs of both the family members and the clinical team members. How ever; the intent to co-author a paper with this couple provided the se rendipity intervention of a ''reader's theater'' that further served t o identify, affirm, and solidify facilitating beliefs.