Liberating Joy from Loss Through Prescriptive Memory-Making & Dyadic Creativity

  • 1/14/2024
  • 10 AM - 1 PM EST
  • Zoom
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This playful approach begins with curating novelty from positive felt-sense memories- then co-creating an even more novel "prescriptive" memory from these lived experiences so that it becomes the place where healing can happen.

This training is approved for 3 CE Hours.

NASW-KY Approval #050522
NASW-VT Approval #1113
Florida CSW, MFT, MHC Approval #20-946039

These approvals are accepted by most social work and professional counseling boards.
Contact Rozlyn@academyimh.com for more information.

Learning Objectives:

  1. List (3) identifiers for suitability and (3) contraindications for Prescriptive Memory-Making/Dreamscaping.
  2. Identify the (3) critical types of narrative “material” which work best as retrieval cues for positive memory during interviewing.
  3. Describe (2) or more ways Dreamscaping’s brain based approach launches memory reconsolidation and updates a distressing long-term memory.
  4. State (1) or more reasons why it is beneficial for the prescriptive memory to “violate the expected” so it can open the bereaved individual to a therapeutic, corrective experience.
  5. Apply (1) or more times how to evoke a client’s memory with observational humor, deep play and magic realism— to optimize its positive charge.
  6. Name (3) arts intervention skills to help a client transform the prescriptive memory into an image-based tangible object [they can practice with or share with their support network].

Learning Objectives:

  1. Understand the similarities and differences across several popular theoretical orientations related to client intervention.
  2. Learn how to practice the basics of several popular theoretical orientations- regardless of training background.
  3. Understand practical in-session techniques related to different theoretical orientations.
  4. Learn how to easily adopt new techniques into your therapy practice- without needing to completely alter your overall style or favorite orientation.



When working with a client’s memory, how do we locate the fleeting, joyful bits so often overshadowed by loss that no new insights can emerge? In this master class, Nancy Gershman will introduce a cinematic technique for arriving at the memory our client needs in order to move from isolation to re-integration in the world. Case studies will demonstrate how prescriptive memories are compounded in a client’s imagination, with magic realism launching memory reconsolidation capable of updating long term distressing memories. Live demos will give you an excellent sense of how to listen or prompt for incongruity so you can lead your client to new sources of courage and humor, based on personally-developed imaginal or photo-based artwork. Implications for using this method in-person or via telehealth, with adult populations (grief and non-death related loss) and in clinical settings (hospice) will be addressed.

𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙧𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙝 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 : 𝙇𝙈𝙎𝙒𝙨, 𝙇𝘾𝙎𝙒𝙨, 𝙇𝙈𝙃𝘾𝙨, 𝙇𝙈𝙁𝙏𝙨, 𝙇𝙋𝘼𝙏𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘼𝙏𝙍-𝘽𝘾𝙨.

Get an immediate sense of how prescriptive memory-making can liberate a client’s thinking about grief and loss by reading transcripts from actual Dreamscaping sessions :

Jack the Cat Bodyguard
The Ice Cream Truck That Keeps Coming Around
Frozen Concentrate as Performance Art
Swimming with God

About your trainer...
Nancy Gershman
LCSW, Integrative Psychotherapist


Nancy Gershman is a psychotherapist with BHAVA Therapy Group, and the developer of Dreamscaping (Prescriptive Memory-Making), an imaginal and photo-based therapy supported by the way memories get encoded in the brain. Her publications include Prescriptive Memories in Grief and Loss: The Art of Dreamscaping (Routledge, 2019) with Barbara E. Thompson, and case studies in Robert A. Neimeyer’s Techniques of Grief Therapy (Routledge, 2012, 2016). Her Dreamscaping work with end-of-life patients and their families at Visiting Nurse Service of NY was featured on NY1’s “New Yorker of the Week” (2016). Her work with the eating-disordered culminated in the traveling exhibit, “The Brides of Ed” (2013). Since 2013, Nancy has hosted Death Café New York City.
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