Loss, missing farewells and the effects of the pandemic – Systemic Ritual with Daan van Kampenhout.

Conversation with Daan van Kampenhout on the topic of the seminar (Youtube)

In „Systemic Ritual“ Daan van Kampenhout combines elements from family constellations with elements of shamanic rituals to create his unique method of systemic work. In systemic rituals, usually a lot of representatives are active. Using requests and topics from individuals, Daan van Kampenhout opens a contained space for shared and collective healing experiences in the group. In this way „Systemic Ritual“ has proven to be a powerful method for groups in which people and/or their ancestors share a collective trauma or the experience of challenging times. A detailed description of the method can be found here.

In this seminar we want to look specifically at the impact of the pandemic years on individual and collective grieving processes. Grieving for loved ones as well as for other types of loss that could not really be addressed and processed until now.  

During these past years, farewells and funerals were often not possible at all or very limited. People were sometimes not or only partially allowed to visit their relatives in hospitals, nursing homes and hospices, and in this way were not able to accompany the process of illness and dying as before. In the case of covid-positive deceased, the coffin had to remain closed even after death, depending on the country / state and the funeral home. Funeral services often took place only in a very small group of people and with a lot of distance, sitting together in a café or restaurant afterwards was often impossible. Certainly there were other small and large rituals or gestures of compassion, which used to offer support in times of grief and were missing or different during pandemic times. All this has left us with a certain feeling of incompleteness and made grieving processes more difficult in different ways. 

In addition, as individuals as well as a society, we have experienced other profound types of loss. The loss of freedom during the lockdowns, loss of trust in governments or other people, loss of connections and relationships due to the contact restrictions or different views on the measures. Also in the covid times we were confronted with how vulnerable we are, and issues like the climate crisis became more evident than before. In all of this, many people experience a loss of a  sense of future. Through all these kinds of loss, it sometimes seems that we are now in another world. 

On this seminar day we would like to give space for all these topics, effects and after-effects of the past years. 

Everyone is invited, regardless of whether you yourself have been personally affected by a loss, have been exposed to the issues above e.g. as a staff member in hospitals or nursing homes, as a funeral director or grief counselor, or you simply resonate with the topic and/or Daan’s work.

Prior registration is necessary.

About the speaker: 

Daan van Kampenhout has learned from traditional teachers of various shamanic cultures. From his encounter with Bert Hellinger and his fascination with both shamanic ritual and family constellations, he began to develop „Systemic Ritual“ about 25 years ago. Since then he has given countless seminars and trainings in many different countries and is a well-known workshop leader and author. Personally, he was affected by the above-mentioned issues due to the death of his father, who died in late summer 2020. Because of all the restrictions and limitations at the time, he was not able to attend the funeral.