Growth and Transition Workshop
Based on the “LDT Workshops” of Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
The Growth and Transition Workshop is an intense, three day residential process inspired by Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ ground breaking “Life, Death, and Transition” Workshops, which ended in 1995. Dr. Kubler-Ross initially created five day workshops for dying patients. However, it soon became apparent that their accompanying loved ones and caregivers were equally burdened, carrying the pain of their own personal losses as well as the challenges of their current responsibilities.
Personal Growth Retreats
In 1985 Tucson Medical Center (TMC) sent a number of nurses from the same medical unit to one of Elisabeth’s workshops. After noting significant changes in these individuals, and the improved functioning of the medical unit, TMC asked Dr. Larry Lincoln to create an on-going program for all employees suffering from “burn-out”.
Recognizing its impact, TMC, with the gratitude of Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, made the Workshop available to the community at large in 1986, while continuing to support the program for all TMC staff. To date, more than three thousand participants have come from all over the United States and around the world. Some have learned about this program by “word of mouth”, as friends have often encouraged family members and other friends to attend. Over the years, many psychotherapists have consistently referred their clients as an integral part of their treatment plans. They find that the workshop helps facilitate a clarification of issues and a deepening of the therapeutic experience.
Grief and Loss Resources
We view grief in the broadest of terms. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross was fond of saying that you could literally gather a dozen random shoppers in any grocery store to form a workshop. Every one of us, she would argue, has “unfinished business” that affects our current life. Some would come to process the deaths of loved ones; others to mourn the loss of their childhoods, or to find parts of themselves that had been buried, or cut off, by trauma and /or neglect. Throughout the years, we have seen participants filled with bottled-up rage which spills out at work or onto family members. We have also witnessed those who have lived their lives with constant remorse or sadness that may look and feel like depression or fear.
Finding Balance in Life
During the Growth and Transition Workshop weekend, we learn how old patterns of behavior, which initially helped us survive, are now responsible for our judgments, resentments, stress and exhaustion. Regardless of the specifics of our childhoods, we learn that “pain is pain is pain”. Given a safe place to grieve, we learn we are all alike. Each of us shares a common humanity that includes unexpressed, often profound, pain as well as a capacity for unconditional love. But, it is the compassion for self first, and then others, that moves us toward healthy responsibility in life. As Elisabeth Kubler-Ross often said, “We all have both a Hitler and a Mother Theresa inside of us…” and we need to reconcile that fact within ourselves.
Growth and Transition/Grief and Loss Weekend Format
The Growth and Transition/Grief and Loss Workshop begins on a Friday at 9:00am, with final registration and roommate assignments.
On the first day of our residential weekend, we begin weaving the threads of mutual respect, confidentiality, and safety. The teaching models provide a pegboard on which each participant can place their personal history. In order to by- pass our intellectual and analytical minds, we make impromptu drawings which, upon analysis, often provide kernels of information about why we have chosen to come to the weekend. From the very beginning of the workshop, we practice listening to what our emotional and spiritual quadrants are requesting of us.
The Externalization Technique
Friday evening and all of Saturday, we witness the “externalization work”, the back bone of the workshop. “Externalization” is the term we have used for many years to refer to the process of bringing to the surface any of our internal feelings. Participants voluntarily share their stories, often expressing their bottled-up, or long forgotten, emotions, such as anger, sadness, fear, love or joy. The triggering of each individual’s emotional memories and insights occurs as group members feel safe enough to share their own stories.
Integrating Emotional Work with Intellectual Understanding
On Sunday morning, we teach models that help integrate the work of the weekend. Participants leave with a clearer sense of how they can live more consciously. For some, there is a realization that more “work” lies ahead. Others leave feeling they have reached new depths with their on-going issues. Most often, participants breathe in a sense of accomplishment, and appreciate a profound connection to humanity as a whole.
Burnout Recovery
We end our workshop with a brief, but meaningful, closing ceremony at 1:00 pm on Sunday. Guests, as well as the general public, are invited. Whether we have suffered burnout at work, or an inability to live fully in our everyday lives, due to childhood trauma or current losses, we honor our unique journeys toward wholeness.