Finding Meaning and Hope in the Ambiguous Loss of Retrenchment

Passcode: hope

SCSU CETL and Faculty Association are co-hosting this online workshop on Ambiguous Loss led by internationally known author and researcher, Pauline Boss. Often, we are taught to move forward and recover from losses. We try to move on from painful breakups, job losses, or the death of someone we love. In her research, Dr Boss reexamines these assumptions and provides guidance on how to live with loss and grief. See this article for a brief primer on the topic or Dr Boss' website.

In this workshop, Dr Boss will presentation briefly on the topic and then participants will have opportunity to ask questions and engage in discussion.  Dr Mumbi Mwangi and Dr Janet Tilstra will facilitate.

A limited number of copies of Dr Boss’ latest book, The Myth of Closure: Ambiguous Loss in a Time of Pandemic and Change (2022) are available through CETL. Please contact CETL@stcloudstate.edu if you would like a copy. We will stock additional copies in the CETL lending library in 225 Stewart Hall after the event.

A limited number of copies of Dr Boss’ original book, Ambiguous Loss (2000) are available through the Faculty Association. Please contact facassoc@stcloudstate.edu if you would like to request a copy.

Book and conversation groups will be available after the event. Please indicate your interest by responding to the registration questions.

Bio

Pauline Boss, PhD, Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota is a fellow in the American Psychological Association and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and a former president of the National Council on Family Relations. She practiced family therapy for over 40 years. With her groundbreaking work in research and practice, Dr. Boss coined the term ambiguous loss in the 1970s and since then, developed and tested the theory of ambiguous loss, a guide for working with families of the missing, physically or psychologically.

Her most recent book is The Myth of Closure: Ambiguous Loss in a Time of Pandemic and Change (W. W. Norton, 2022) Her work is known around the world wherever ambiguous tosses occur, and her books have been translated 23 times into various languages.