“But it Was Real!” - Grief Work with Children of 9/11 Victims: Personal Trauma, Media Trauma, Vicarious Trauma of the Imagined, Continuing Trauma

Laura V. Loumeau-May, MPS, ATR-BC, LPC, Art Therapist
Journeys Program of Valley Home Care, Inc.
Paramus, New Jersey
Practica Coordinator and Instructor of Art Therapy
Caldwell College, New Jersey

This presentation will explore bereavement work done with children whose parents died in the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01. How children experience “normal” and traumatic grief will be discussed. Comparisons will be made between diverse types of unexpected death such as heart attack, drowning, car accident, suicide, and terrorist attack. The implications for differential grief reactions and grieving issues particular to the types of trauma will be discussed. Art Therapy imagery and techniques will illustrate aspects of traumatic grief as well as the therapeutic process itself.