1
Bereaved and traumatized clients: can we give them hope? 1)
Ton Coffeng, M.D. 2)
30.1.2019
Abstract:
Looking back at his therapeutic work with bereaved and traumatized clients, the author found
eight concepts that had been helpful as therapeutic tools. These concepts or ‘principles’
offered a basis for therapy. Some helped clients to settle and therapists to relax. Others gave
clients a frame for expressing feelings, while they helped therapists to get a picture of the
client’s context. These eight principles are: the tendency to avoid victims, the primacy of
human contact, the expertise of clients, the creation of a place, different types of reality, the
use of imagery, the mechanism of pacing and finally, the use of a roundabout. Each of them
will be described and illustrated with examples. Focusing-oriented therapists consider the
body as the source of therapeutic change. The body of bereaved and traumatized clients
seemed to be also the source of recovery and perspective. In this sense, hope was facilitated.
Bereaved and traumatized clients: can we give them hope? 1)
Ton Coffeng, M.D. 2)
30.1.2019
Abstract:
Looking back at his therapeutic work with bereaved and traumatized clients, the author found
eight concepts that had been helpful as therapeutic tools. These concepts or ‘principles’
offered a basis for therapy. Some helped clients to settle and therapists to relax. Others gave
clients a frame for expressing feelings, while they helped therapists to get a picture of the
client’s context. These eight principles are: the tendency to avoid victims, the primacy of
human contact, the expertise of clients, the creation of a place, different types of reality, the
use of imagery, the mechanism of pacing and finally, the use of a roundabout. Each of them
will be described and illustrated with examples. Focusing-oriented therapists consider the
body as the source of therapeutic change. The body of bereaved and traumatized clients
seemed to be also the source of recovery and perspective. In this sense, hope was facilitated.