November 21, 2020
[NYExTx Summit 2020 “best of” pics] New York, NY SESSION TITLE: “Prescriptive Memory: Liberating Joy and Strengths from Loss-Saturated Imagery” When working with a client’s memory, how do we locate the fleeting, joyful bits so often overshadowed by loss that no new insights can emerge? Introducing Dreamscaping—a novel technique I developed for arriving at the memory our clients need in order to move them from isolation to re-integration in the world. First in the mind. Then tangibly, in a 2D or 3D “dreamscape,” built from personal photos. Through modeling with volunteers and experiential pairs work, participants will discover how to resource the most reliably positive, felt-sense memories and images as unmet needs are uncovered. Gently evoking self-compassion, humor and irony, participants will get an excellent sense of what it means to be a confident memory artist in mental health care, capable of leading your client to a new source of courage based on their personally-developed imagery. Implications for using this method with adult populations in other clinical settings will be addressed. Nancy Gershman is a memory artist and the developer of Dreamscaping, an imaginal and photo-based practice for working with people contending with the loss of self, a person, place, or thing. Nancy is a full time psychotherapist at BHAVA Therapy Group in New York City. She presents and provides training internationally on the practice. Since 2013, Gershman has been the host of Death Café New York City. |
