Jill A. Harrington - Superhero Grief: The Transformative Power of Loss

Superhero Grief uses modern superhero narratives to teach the principles of grief theories and concepts and provide practical ideas for promoting healing.

Chapters offer clinical strategies, approaches, and interventions, including strategies based in expressive arts and complementary therapies. Leading researchers, clinicians, and professionals address major topics in death, dying, and bereavement, using superhero narratives to explore loss in the context of bereavement and to promote a contextual view of issues and relationship types that can improve coping skills.

This volume provides support and psychoeducation to students, clinicians, educators, researchers, and the bereaved while contributing significantly to the literature on the intersection of death, grief, and trauma.

Jill A. Harrington, DSW, LCSW, is in private practice in the greater Washington, DC, area, where she works as an adjunct professor, grief educator, trainer, writer, and consultant.

Robert A. Neimeyer, PhD, directs the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition; actively practices as a trainer, consultant, and coach; and has published extensively on grieving as a meaning-making process.

Volumes published in the Series in Death, Dying and Bereavement are representative of the multidisciplinary nature of the intersecting fields of deathstudies, suicidology, end-of-life care, and grief counseling. The series meets the needs of clinicians, researchers, paraprofessionals, pastoral counselors,and educators by providing cutting edge research, theory, and best practices on the most important topics in these fields for today and for tomorrow.

Series Editors: Robert A. Neimeyer, PhD, Portland Institute for Loss and Transition, Oregon, USA and Darcy L. Harris, PhD, Western University Canada,Ontario, Canada

Chronic Sorrow

A Living Loss, 2nd Edition

Susan Roos

Continuing Bonds in Bereavement

New Directions for Research and Practice

Edited by Dennis Klass and Edith Steffen

Prescriptive Memories in Grief and Loss

The Art of Dreamscaping

Edited by Nancy Gershman and Barbara E. Thompson

Loss, Grief, and Attachment in Life Transitions

Clinicians Guide to Secure Base Counseling

Jakob van Wielink, Leo Wilhelm, and Denise van Geelen-Merks

Non-Death Loss and Grief

Context and Clinical Implications

Edited by Darcy L. Harris

Superhero Grief

The Transformative Power of Loss

Edited by Jill A. Harrington and Robert A. Neimeyer

For more information about this series, please visit https://www.routledge.com/Series-in-Death-Dying-and-Bereavement/book-series/SE0620.

In this wonderful collection, Harrington and Neimeyer have brought together a league of skilled authors whose contributions enlarge our view of bereavement through the prism of contemporary superhero encounters with loss. This is a refreshingly original, clinically astute, playful, and scholarly volume. It is a book for clinicians, educators, and students as well as for the bereaved, those who treat them, and those who love good stories.

Simon Shimshon Rubin, PhD, professor of clinical psychology and director of the International Center for the Study of Loss, Bereavement and Human Resilience at the University of Haifa, Israel

The superhero connection makes this book accessible to a wide audience of people who have enjoyed these characters and who also want to help themselves or others to move through bereavement. Drs. Harrington and Neimeyer have put together what seems impossible: an entertaining way to learn about grief and loss.

Richard Tedeschi, PhD, distinguished chair at the Boulder Crest Institute for Posttraumatic Growth, USA

The authors in Superhero Grief cast an intriguing and informative light on the potential transformative power of loss through the lens of the archetype of the superhero. From the impetus of tragedy, these mythical beings find power and purpose, providing lessons on loss for humanity. Thoughtful insight abounds for professionals and grieving people seeking sense-making of their own heros journey!

Donna L. Schuurman, EdD, FT, senior director of advocacy and training and executive director emeritus at The Dougy Center: The National Grief Center for Children and Families, USA

First published 2021
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2021 selection and editorial matter, Jill A. Harrington and Robert A. Neimeyer; individual chapters, the contributors

The right of Jill A. Harrington and Robert A. Neimeyer to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

ISBN: 978-0-367-14558-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-14559-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-05666-6 (ebk)

Typeset in Times
by SPi Global, India

In devoted memory of the two complex, flawed, and loving

true New York characters who created me, gave me my origin story,

influenced my story arc, taught me how to embrace vulnerability as well as call upon

the power of strength in the face of adversity.

Elyse Nanni Harrington

(19442016)

and

James Dennis Harrington

(19412015)

JAH

In honor of my own personal Wonder Woman, Agnieszka,

who in the midst of global threat and endless separation has secured our bond

with the Lasso of Truth and claimed her heritage as the Amazon she was always meant to be. RAN

We would like to acknowledge the artistry, advocacy, and the impact of actor, Chadwick Boseman, who died at 43 years old shortly after this book began the publication process. Chadwick embodied the superhero Black Panther personifying the beauty, the character, and the strength of the Black Panther on- and off-screen. His loss to the world and the visual arts is deeply shared by all that were transformed by the power of his humanity bringing forth the hope of the Black Panther to embolden us to realize that more connects us than separates us (Fiege & Coogler, 2018, 02:06:08) and that we must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe (Fiege & Coogler, 2018, 02:06:20).

1. Feige, K. (Producer), & Coogler, R. (Director). Black Panther [Motion Picture], ( 2018 ), United States : Marvel Studios .

Superhero Grief: The Transformative Power of Loss