Workplace Griefbusting: Transforming Loss and Grief Ghosts into Creative Flow

In a 24/7 world that’s forever reorganizing, upgrading, and streamlining, employees and organizations are caught up in a cycle of change, loss of control, and uncertainty that may challenge mission and morale…but change and crisis also generate heightened energy, focus, and opportunity. However, many are not prepared to “let go and launch” because they are anchored down. The burdensome weight involves lingering, often dismissed, yet still reverberating grief from recent and past losses – whether from deaths and divorces, growing up in (substance) abusing families, jolted by on-the-job trauma, e.g., stunned by an unexpected RIF of your position or an admired colleague, foreclosure, major illness, or natural disaster. The unrecognized “mind-body” impact of smoldering loss or “burn-in” sits heavy on many people’s minds and bodies, hearts and souls. Yet many are leery of entering the labyrinth of grief, afraid of discovering a shadowy monster within, or that the spewing of tears, once unleashed, will never end. And combined with the cultural message “don’t look back; just move on,” or “stop feeling sorry for yourself,” not surprisingly, hulking, smoldering “grief ghosts” are often barely recognized in a “TNT” – “Time, Numbers, & Technology” – driven and distracted world.

What Happens When “Grief-Ghost Carriers” Walk and Stalk Your Office Halls and Work Floors?

In fact, too many bring this psychic specter to work every day. And the impact of ghosts is especially seen and felt in times of major change and uncertainty. Such “ghost carriers” (GCs) may become “stress carriers” with predictable consequences – from energy drain and diminished focus to interpersonal conflicts, especially with authority figures. GCs also frequently get into other people’s business. Are you ready for Mark Gorkin, Stress Doc ™, MSW, LICSW, acclaimed speaker and stress, burnout and critical incident/grief intervention consultant, to help you develop both a personal and organizational Workplace Griefbusting Program? The Stress Doc’s mantra: Grieve, Let Go, and Grow with the Flow!

Objectives

Participants will discover:

Ø How lingering loss and alienated grief set the stage for burn-in, grief carriers, and grief ghosts

Ø Seven types of “Grief Ghosts” related to stages of burnout and burn-in and how they impact your eco- and “echo”-system

Ø Common psycho-cultural messages and barriers to “timely” Workplace Griefbusting

Ø The Stress Doc’s memorable take on the “Stages of Grief” and rejuvenation, including five phases of creative grief – Living, Letting Go, Learning, Loving & Liberation

Ø Gail Sheehy’s key self-assessment “Mid-Life Passage Questions” for transforming grief ghosts into grief growth

Ø Familiar and non-traditional “letting go and launching” tools with remembrances for “Memory, Mourning, and Mirth”

Ø How grief ghosts may fuel self-defeating power struggles; gain disarming tools

Ø The Stress Doc’s acclaimed “3-D” – Discussion, Drawing & Diversity – Group Exercise for playfully, imaginatively, and collaboratively exorcising grief ghosts

So seek the higher power of Stress Doc humor: May the Farce Be with You!

Don’t miss your appointment with the Stress Doc!

Mark Gorkin, MSW, LICSW, “The Stress Doc” ™, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, is an acclaimed keynote speaker, retreat leader, and “Motivational Humorist & Team Communication Catalyst” known for his interactive, inspiring, and FUN programs for both government agencies and major corporations. A Training and Critical Incident/Grief Intervention Consultant for the National EAP/Wellness Company, Business Health Services in Baltimore, MD, the Doc is also leading “Stress, Team Building and Humor” programs for various branches of the armed services. Mark is the author of Practice Safe Stress and of The Four Faces of Anger. See his award-winning, USA Today Online “HotSite” — www.stressdoc.com — called a “workplace resource” by National Public Radio (NPR). For more info on the Doc’s programs or to receive his free e-newsletter, email [email protected].