PERSPECTIVESPERSPECTIVES is a special feature included in this issue of the Journal of Creativity in Mental Health that provides mental health professionals with an opportunity to discuss their positions on a variety of creativity-related topics.In this issue, authors share two different perspectives on the deeply emotional topic of parenting a child with disabilities. Amy Patrick-Ott and Linda Ladd discuss Boss's concept of ambiguous loss and Olshansky's concept of chronic sorrow and relate those concepts to one mother's story. Margaret Costantino applies Schlossberg's model of transition and Herman's stages of trauma and recovery to her own heroic story of parenting. Both perspectives offer unique insights into the experiences of parenting children with disabilities.Finally, Sunhee Kim, art therapist, shares her perspective on the personcentered approach to creative arts therapy. She tells a moving story of healing experienced by one of her Korean-American clients.When the diagnosis of a physical disability or cognitive impairment is given, the parents begin to realize that their lives will never be the same from that day forward. Whether the parent knows it or not, they have entered a period of chronic sorrow. This article examines the life trajectory for a mother of a child with several disabilities and how the concepts of chronic sorrow and ambiguous loss help explain her experience.
A program is described through which families become acquainted with the issues, legal terminology, and resources for planning to provide and finance care to neurologically impaired elders. A survey of 68 participating families indicated over 90% had taken one or more planning actions following the workshop, including developing a specific plan for providing and financing services and developing a power-of-attorney for decision-making. Implications for other programs are discussed.
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