Meaning‐oriented approaches to grief therapy have made substantial contributions by defining the internal processes of meaning‐making and, more recently, clinical scholars have introduced relational approaches as means for continuing bonds with the deceased and increasing social support for the bereaved. However, the complicated interactive processes of interpersonal meaning‐making pose added challenges as family members attempt to coregulate each other’s grief experiences. While systemic therapists have consistently emphasized the essential role of familial relationships in fostering resilience through interpersonally constructed meaning, there remains a need for clarity in terms of the specific processes by which this occurs. The Meaning Reconstruction Model and Emotionally Focused Therapy provide process‐oriented therapeutic strategies for facilitating interpersonal interactions that foster deep relational connection and self‐identity transformation. In this article, we explore how these models can be integrated and applied to the dynamic needs of families who are adjusting to loss. Future clinical and research directions are also discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.