Therapeutic work with loss, grief, and bereavement brings the therapist face to face with a wide range of intense emotions—grief, sadness, anxiety, helplessness, longing, longing, and sometimes even rage. These encounters, especially when they occur in the immediate vicinity of a recent loss, pose complex professional and ethical questions for the therapist regarding how to position themselves in the therapeutic position.

• How do you position yourself in the face of grief?

• How can expressions of pain be allowed and processed without overwhelming? How do we move through pain and grief within the therapeutic space?

• How do you stay present within the emotional experience without rushing to interpret or soothe?

Alongside this, questions also arise concerning the therapist's inner world:

• How do you cope with the pain during and after treatment?

• How do you process it, alone and within the framework of professional guidance?

• And what are the possible answers to feelings of burden, anxiety, or overflow that arise in the face of content about death, mourning, and bereavement?

This evening will be dedicated to addressing the question of positioning oneself in the therapeutic position when encountering grief. The meeting will open with a discussion of therapists' experiences and the anxiety that sometimes arises when encountering these contents, alongside an examination of the instructional and clinical responses provided in these situations.

Dr. Avital Gershfeld Litwin - Medical Psychologist and Instructor. Engaged in treatment, research, teaching, training and coaching of care personnel in the fields of illness, disability, loss, grief and bereavement. Serves as head of the Medical Psychology Department at the Tel Aviv-Yafo Academic and coordinator of the Loss and Grief Unit at the Mifarashim Institute for Psychotherapy Research and Teaching. Since 2018, she has served as chair of the Professional Committee for Medical Psychology on behalf of the Ministry of Health.

Miad Morag , a clinical psychologist and instructor. Specializes in treating crisis situations, loss and bereavement and is a recognized therapist by the National Insurance Institute and the Ministry of Defense. Facilitates therapy groups for processing bereavement and traumatic loss. Lectures and trains therapeutic teams throughout the country in the field of grief and loss processing, as part of the 'Nafshim' Institute for Research and Teaching of Psychotherapy at the School of Integrative Psychotherapy at Ben-Gurion University and at the 'Clinical Applications' School of Psychotherapy.