Bonnie Gorscak, PhD
I am a licensed psychologist with more than 30 years of experience in providing therapy for people coping with a variety of challenges and situations. I maintain a private practice offering virtual therapy to bereaved adults in a number of states. In 2001 I began working with Dr. Katherine Shear, providing her newly developed therapy for complicated grief in the first ever study to demonstrate its effectiveness. I went on to collaborate with Dr. Shear in supervising and training professionals in Complicated Grief Treatment (CGT; also known as Prolonged Grief Treatment) through the Center for Complicated Grief she established at Columbia University. Twenty years later, I continue to lead workshops and supervise clinicians through the Center, and to work closely with Dr. Shear and her team in developing programming for clinicians around the world.
I have spoken and led trainings nationally and internationally in grief and CGT for Relationships Australia in Queensland and Brisbane; Grief Research and Intervention in Beijing, China; the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation in Newtown, CT; The Ecumenical Center for Education, Counseling, and Health in San Antonio, TX; Essentia Health Grief Support Services in Duluth, MN; and other healthcare organizations. In 2019 I gave a keynote address at the 1st International Congress on Grief Research and Intervention in Beijing, China; I have also presented at annual meetings of the American Psychiatric Association, Pennsylvania Psychological Association, New Jersey Psychological Association, Association of Death Education and Counseling, and other professional organizations. I have coauthored multiple chapters and articles with Dr. Shear, and I am the coauthor (with Allan Zuckoff, PhD) of Finding Your Way to Change: How the Power of Motivational Interviewing Can Reveal What You Want and Help You Get There, published by The Guilford Press in 2015.
The loss of someone we love is one of the most painful experiences in life. Complicated grief exacerbates the pain of grief, adding to the distress of an already difficult situation. CGT can alleviate this additional suffering. It has offered relief and a renewed sense of hope to thousands of people who have struggled to navigate their personal process of grief. Assisting bereaved adults to find a way through their hopelessness to living life more fully again remains the most fulfilling part of my 30 year career.