Linda Thai L Tsite

Expressive and somatic approaches

Addressing collective grief and trauma

"A man without history is a tree without roots." ~ Confucius


Unnameable losses: The unmetabolized ambiguous grief of adult children of refugees

This lecture was part of the Collective Grief and Trauma Conference held in March 2021, co-sponsored by Cathy Malchiodi and Collectively Rooted.

Leaving Vietnam at age two with my parents, as Vietnamese Boat People, has left a legacy on myself and my family that has taken my entire lifetime to make sense of.

This presentation draws upon research literature as well as narrative reconstruction of lived experiences to expand the conversation about intergenerational trauma to encompass the impact of forced migration, combined with acculturation and enculturation pressures upon the subsequent generation.

This larger landscape of traumatic grief, traumatic loss, traumatic homesickness and the ambiguity of these unnameable, unmetabolized experiences has transgenerational impact that needs to be named in order to be healed. Unnameable losses cannot be grieved, and can manifest as clinical expressions of mental illness. Ambiguous grief – once named – will allow Generation 2.0 to forge a collective path of healing and reclamation.



Objectives

  • Differentiate between refugees and immigrants
  • Identify the main stages of a refugee journey
  • Explain intergenerational trauma to encompass the impact of forced migration combined with acculturation and enculturation pressures upon the next generation
  • Discuss expressions of ambiguous grief, traumatic grief and traumatic homesickness associated with generation 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 refugees
  • Differentiate strategies to utilize in clinical and community settings to facilitate individual and collective well-being and resiliency for refugees
  • Identify how the decontextualization of historical trauma can result in the pathologizing and stereotyping of cultures, families and individuals
  • Engage in somatic techniques to expand nervous system capacity for distress tolerance

1. Unnameable losses: The unmetabolized ambiguous grief of adult children of refugees

$35.00 USD

Online Course

Included features:

  • No CE Credit
  • Access to Recording for 60 days

Cancellation Policy

All cancellation and refund requests must be submitted in writing to [email protected]. We are unable to offer refunds of online courses after any part of the curriculum has been completed.

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