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Posts by Channie Amato, LMFT, Art Therapist (Page 8)

The Mystery And Power Of Art Therapy

Channie Amato is a HOPE therapist, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and Art Therapist, providing individual, group and family play & art therapy.

Grieving the death of a loved one is one of life’s most difficult challenges. Words may be difficult to speak, but the pain and the emotions are shouting inside. According to J. William Worden, there are 4 tasks of grieving.

  1. To accept the reality of the loss
  2. To process the pain
  3. To adjust to your world without your loved one
  4. Find a connection with your loved one while you create a newly redefined life.

Hope Tree

Oh No, The Holidays Are Here!

A lot has been written about “getting through the holidays.” But, for someone who is grieving, words of hope and comfort can never be said often enough. This week, virtually on the eve of both Christmas and Hanukkah, the visual cues announcing the holidays are almost overwhelming. Lights, decorations are everywhere, triggering feelings of loss and loneliness. Now, words of encouragement are…

Healing One Day At A Time

Grief itself can be and usually is overwhelming. Dealing with grief — healing — can be equally daunting. That is why Martha Whitmore Hickman’s beautiful book, Healing After Loss: Daily Meditations for Working Through Grief, is so valuable. In its very structure — daily meditations — the book gently allows the reader to face a range of emotions in kind and manageable doses,…

Hope For Suicide Survivors

Grief is a natural reaction to death. Grief can be intensified when a death is untimely — when a young person or a child dies. Grief and additional emotions can be doubly intensified and more when a young person dies by suicide.Iris Bolton experienced this first hand when her 20-year-old son, Curtis Mitchell Bolton, died by suicide. She went on to describe her reaction…

What We Can Learn From 9/11

Today, on the anniversary of 9/11, many people are writing about the meaning, significance and even personal memories of that awful day. 

There is an aspect of the event, though, that is particularly meaningful to those associated with Hope Connection — group leaders, current and past members alike.

That aspect concerns the  process of moving beyond grief. Unlike many people who experience the loss of a loved one as a largely individual event, there is a group of people mainly concentrated in the greater New York area who share a communal loss. People have neighbors, friends, co-workers who have shared a similar loss at the same time for the same reason.

Gail Sheehy recognized the unique nature of this shared loss, and has explored its nuances in a new book called Middletown, America.