This talk with Dr. Jessica Thomas explores how photography and mindful attention can help us experience and process grief. It looks at how paying attention to what we see around us can help us connect with what is happening inside us and find meaning after loss.

Drawing on her clinical work, research, and the development of Within & Without™, a therapeutic mindful photography approach, Dr. Thomas explores photography as more than simply taking or creating pictures. Instead, mindful photography encourages us to slow down, notice, reflect, and be curious about our experiences.

Within & Without™ offers a way to explore the connection between what we see and how we feel. By intentionally noticing the beauty, details, and emotions in everyday life, mindful photography can create space for reflection, emotional expression, connection, personal choice, and finding new meaning after loss.

About Dr. Jessica Thomas

Dr. Jessica Thomas is a therapist, author, educator, and AAMFT clinical supervisor whose work focuses on mental health, grief, and spiritual and personal growth.

She holds a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and a PhD in Psychology, with a focus on Transpersonal Psychology. She is a longtime board member of the Northwest Association for Death Education and Bereavement Support and currently co-chairs the AAMFT Spirituality in Clinical Practice group.

Dr. Thomas has worked as a hospice volunteer and supported Death Cafés, which encourage open and thoughtful conversations about death and dying. She is also a professor at Lewis & Clark College, where she teaches courses on death and grief, spiritual and psychological development, counselling, research, and clinical supervision.

Her research on mindful photography and anticipatory loss led to the development of Within & Without™, a therapeutic photography program that helps people navigate grief, loss, and major life changes.

Dr. Thomas gives workshops and talks on grief, death, transpersonal psychology, and mindful photography. She is also the author of Choosing Light: Transforming Grief through the Practice of Mindful Photography and Self-Reflection.