Vicki Panagotacos, PhD FT

Vicki Panagotacos, PhD., FT is a Grief & Loss Counselor and Life Transition Coach in private practice in Los Gatos and La Selva Beach, CA. She also facilitates grief groups and conducts local workshops. Ms. Panagotacos holds various professional certifications and is an ADEC Fellow. In addition to founding www.bestgriefbooks.com, she writes for her blog, TalkingGrief.com, and has authored the following: Effect of Multigenerational Family and Social Systems on Meaning-Making (2010); chapter Defining and Envisioning Self in Techniques of Grief Therapy: Creative Practices for Counseling the Bereaved (edited by Robert Niemeyer, 2012, and Gaining Traction: Starting Over after the Death of a Life Partner, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc74-fA-his

Articles:

Entering a New Relationship after Death of a Life Partner

Entering a New Relationship One of the most charming questions I ever received in one of my second-year spousal-loss classes came from a middle-aged man named Sam. He said, “If I were to invite a woman over to dinner, how many framed pictures of my deceased wife would be too many?” His question was a good one. Sam, like most people who have lost a mate, had increased the number of framed photos around his house so he could feel his late wife’s presence. I answered his question with one of my own: “If you went into a widow’s home, […]

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Spousal Loss: What Legacy of Loss Are You Passing on to Others?

The loss of your life partner is especially complex to manage because the two of you functioned as a couple for so long. As a result, you are not only dealing with the loss of your partner, but also the loss of your sense of self that was constructed through your interactions. The question becomes: if you are no longer someone’s spouse or partner, then who are you? Psychotherapist Michael Miller refers to the process of relocating your single identity as intimate terrorism. Your relationship has been blown apart, and you are left to sift through the debris and extract […]

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