Creating a bereavement memorial protocol using art therapy: Reflecting on two case studies

Abstract

Art therapy in South Africa has focused on counselling and grief work but not on modelling a persistent complex bereavement memorial protocol as a viable alternative to traditional bereavement counselling. This article addresses this gap in practice and literature in the following ways: Investigating an organically modelled and observed bereavement process reflected in the form of interviews. Analysing the literature that will support this hypothesis, consider how this art-based therapeutic bereavement memorial protocol can provide a viable alternative to traditional bereavement counselling. Investigating how the use of art materials in the form of clay-work in this research can support healing and a safe place to process persistent complex grief processing. The methodology of this article is a qualitative arts-based inquiry extracting the information of an organically modelled process observing two bereavement case studies of two mothers processing persistent complex grief through the action of using the clay processing to the attachment onto a surface, creating bereavement artworks as memory capsules to support their unique mourning processes. The time frame of two years of observing, recording and creating a thematic analysis and synthesis is likened to the mourning process of persistent complex grief. Using a supporting psychodynamic investigation from an extensive literature review enables a unique art therapy bereavement protocol that could be used as an alternative to traditional grief and bereavement counselling. Furthermore, through the action of clay-work with an extension to paper collage to ‘piece together’ memories integrating the loss of a loved one into a life without them.