The death of a loved one poses substantial challenges to all members of the family, as each struggles to integrate the "event story" of the loss while continuing to assess the "back story" of life with the deceased.  Drawing on a meaning reconstruction perspective, we will consider this difficult transition at both the level of the individual adults, adolescents and children in the family, as well as the family as a system, illustrating its dialogical, dialectic and dynamic nature through the use of brief case studies.  Special attention will be given to concrete recommendations for the treatment of grieving children and adolescents in keeping with this constructivist model.

Robert A. Neimeyer, Ph.D., is a professor in the Psychotherapy Research Area of the Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, where he also maintains an active clinical practice. Since completing his doctoral training at the University of Nebraska in 1982, he has conducted extensive research on the topics of death, grief, loss, and suicide intervention. Neimeyer has published 25 books, including Techniques of Grief Therapy:  Creative Practices for Counseling the Bereaved; Grief and bereavement in contemporary society: Bridging research and practice, and The Art of Longing, a book of contemporary poetry. The author of nearly 400 articles and book chapters, he is currently working to advance a more adequate theory of grieving as a meaning-making process, both in his published work and through his frequent professional workshops for national and international audiences.Neimeyer is the Editor of two respected international journals, Death Studies and the Journal of Constructivist Psychology, and served as President of the Association for Death Education and Counseling. In recognition of his scholarly contributions, he has been granted the Distinguished Research Award, the Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Eminent Faculty Award by the University of Memphis, elected Chair of the International Work Group on Death, Dying, and Bereavement, designated Psychologist of the Year by the Tennessee Psychological Association, made a Fellow of the Clinical Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association, and given the Research Recognition Award by the Association for Death Education and Counseling. Most recently, he has received the Phoenix: Rising to the Service of Humanity Award by the MISS Foundation and ADEC’s Clinical Practice Award for his contributions to grief therapy.