In this dissertation, I seek to examine the effects of purposeful journaling and guided storytelling on past traumas, perception of current lives, and the development of new coping skills among men at The Salvation Army’s residential adult rehabilitation center (ARC). All residents of the ARC must attend Christian-based devotional services, go to Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) meetings, follow the A.A. 12-step program, and sign up for several weekly counseling and educational groups, one of which is the “Guided Journaling and Storytelling” group I lead. The men who attended this group are (1) addicted to drugs and/or alcohol, (2) face homelessness, (3) cope with some form of mental or physical health issue, (4) may have criminal records, and (5) have alienated most of their social support. Through a twelve-week curriculum I developed, I introduced coping skills—building resilience, expressive writing, and deep breathing—while incorporating art, music, and poetry in the groups. I elicited participants’ stories through prompts, using my own experiences to model vulnerability and demonstrate concepts, such as: narrative reframing; how memories can be uncertain, partial, and elusive; how storytelling can prompt forgotten stories; and the efficacy of including emotion and rich details in the stories we tell. Knowing the value of writing and storytelling, I set out to see if the communicative practices I had learned in the past that had improved my life situation might assist others to write themselves out of destructive patterns, desperation, and trauma, and into sober and more fulfilling lives.

The diploma thesis "Experiencing the loss of a child" deals with the psychological aspects of adaptation to the loss of a child. Its main objective is to analyse the supporting factors that help the adaptation and to find out how such loss influences individuals and their subsequent life. The theoretical part of the thesis focuses on the issue of the loss of a close person and details the specifics of the loss of a child. Based on available literature the author explores the process of grieving and its manifestations and determines the variables that influence the adaptation to child loss. She also evaluates the impact of the child loss on the individual and the potential for intervention in the process. The empirical part determines the factors that help to cope with such loss, describes, how the loss influences the life of the individual and focuses on the needs of the bereaved parents. The data gathering consisted of ten individual in-depth interviews with women which experienced the loss of a child. These interviews were then qualitatively analysed using the IPA (Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis) method. Based on the results of the qualitative analysis we identified four main support aspects of adaptation to child loss - social support, individual activity, professional help and faith....