Reflection On Bereavement

At Calvary Hospital the well-being of patients is a priority; it is their mission to provide adequate services to both patients and families This hospital has strong, dedicated and caring staff members who work as bereavement counselors. Calvary offers bereavement services for young children, adolescents, and adults. Grieving counseling is offered at no cost and is available for all groups including those who have lost a beloved one at Calvary or in the community. Social workers understand and are aware of the needs of families and patients; they strive to provide, assist and support people through an array of services offered at no cost. Through their efforts, social workers seek to help relieve the family’s stress and assist them in coping with the illness of their loved ones.

The Two-Track Model of Bereavement is a model that states loss is conceptualized along two axes. Track I pertains to the biopsychosocial functioning in the event of a loss and Track II pertains to the bereaved’s continued emotional attachment and relationship to whoever is deceased. The effect of Track I is seen through the bereaved’s functioning, including their anxiety, their self-esteem and self-worth, and their depressive affect and cognitions. Noting the ability of one to invest in life tasks after experiencing a loss indicates how they are responding to the loss of the deceased. This Track is seen as an expression similar to one of trauma, or crisis. Track II holds that the bereaved has difficulty physically separating from the deceased. This can be seen in emotional, interpersonal, or cognitive ways. It is shown through imagery and memories that the bereaved experiences surrounding the deceased, whether positive or negative, as well as the emotional distance from them. These pictures in the bereaved’s head explain both the cognitive and emotional view of the person who has died (Rubin, 1999).

Death is inevitable. It is one of the only certainties in life. Regardless, people are often uncomfortable discussing death. Nyatanga (2016) posits that the idea of no longer existing increases anxiety and emotional distress in relation to one’s mortality. Because of the difficulty in level of care for end-of-life patients, the patient and the family often need professional assistance for physical and emotional care. Many family caregivers are not professionally trained in medicine, and this is where hospice comes into play. Hospice aims to meet the holistic needs of both the patient and the patient’s family through treatment plans, education, and advocacy. There is a duality of care to the treatment provided by hospice staff in that they do not attempt to separate the patient’s care from the family’s care. Leming and Dickinson (2011) support that hospice, unlike other clinical fields, focuses on the patient and the family together instead of seeing the patient independent of the family. Many times in hospitals, the medical team focuses solely on the goal of returning the patient back to health in order for them to return to their normal lives. They do not take into account the psychological and spiritual components of the patient’s journey and the journey that the family must take as well. For treatment of the patient, Leming and Dickinson agree that hospice does not attempt to cure patients, and instead concentrates solely

I was only two years old when my mother passed away. Left with an absentee father, I felt a void in my life. I was constantly misunderstood by other family members, which triggered my aggressive behaviors and communication style. Unable to cope with my emotions as an adolescent, I sought help from my school’s social worker. For the first time, it felt great to express my feelings without worrying about being judged. Through our regular meetings, she helped me improve my social development and attitude. She changed my life as I was becoming a better person. In addition, with her assistance, my family and I were able to value communication, understand each other and live in a healthier environment. This chapter of my life has inspired me to pursue a career in social work and be part of a team who continuously helps people overcome obstacles in their lives.

Loss is a phenomenon that is experienced by all. Death is experienced by family members as a unique and elevated form of loss which is modulated by potent stages of grief. Inevitably, everyone will lose someone with whom they had a personal relationship and emotional connection and thus experience an aftermath that can generally be described as grief. Although bereavement, which is defined as a state of sorrow over the death or departure of a loved one, is a universal experience it varies widely across gender, age, and circumstance (definitions.net, 2015). Indeed the formalities and phases associated with bereavement have been recounted and theorized in literature for years. These philosophies are quite diverse but

The groups I helped co-facilitate focused on death-loss for children and their families. I would help children process their grief through checking-in with their feelings, reading stories, interacting with them in play, and engaging in conversations about these experiences. Many times I was surprised by the levels of understanding and

I chose the GriefShare support group because as nurses we will need to help our patients and their families with the grief process when a loved one passes away. On March 29, 2014, I met Claudette St. John, the group leader, at 6:45pm at Northwest Christian Church in Acworth, GA. Rick Baldwin also attended the meeting. The group meets from 7-8:30pm. Claudette shared that she has been doing grief support classes for the past 20 years and the past 3 years she has been doing GriefShare at Northwest Christian. She lost her teenage daughter in a car accident 20 years ago. She expressed that there really are not any rules, other than just respecting each individual. She tasks herself with keeping the meetings on track and has a democratic leadership style. GriefShare is a Christian based program consisting of 13 weekly session. Participants do not need to attend all 13 sessions, the sessions can also be done individually. A workbook is given to those that are participating in the program. GriefShare’s goal is to help those experiencing grief, work through the process and recognize the different aspects of grief that they may encounter.

Grief counseling is a division of social work that involves the interpersonal aspect of the social worker’s role as expert in coping with death. In this paper I will define grief counseling and some ways to cope with loss. Next I will discuss the history and seven stages of grief. There are two main forms of grievers which are intuitive and instrumental. In addition there are four major types of grief which are acute, anticipatory, sudden and complicated. The helping process is explained as well as some disorders related to grief. A current trend for grievers is to seek involvement in programs such as the Canadian Cancer Society, Missing Children of Canada and Victim Services. These organizations provide counseling services and crisis

In addition, the therapeutic value of working with grief in diverse groups is of particular interest to me based on the existential challenges in dealing with death, loss of relationships, career, or anyone or anything deemed to be of significance to individuals. Likewise, our society is frankly abysmal in recognizing and supporting those in need of support, therapy and long-term assistance in dealing with grief and loss. Additionally, group work can be a highly effective way to help grieving individuals expand their network of relationships thus helping them move forward in a health way (Corey el al.,

By listening and being socially supportive for individuals who experienced a significant loss is very important. Also, our society should give people a significant amount of time off to spend with family and cope with the death of a loved one. I believe people need to be more empathetic when interacting with individual’s who lost a loved one.

Psychoeducational groups emphasize, “using education methods to acquire information and develop related meaning and skills.” (Brown, 1997, p.1) This grief support group works as a psychoeducational group, through focusing on education and knowledge for healing and growth. In this group, members value knowledge as it further brings growth through their grief journey. The facilitator educates the group with thirty-minute videos made by grief experts to support the members in learning proper coping skills and processing certain aspects of their grief. The group also characterizes a psychoeducational group through providing emotional support with discussion before and after each video. During this short discussion time the group worked together, to help apply the skills to their lives and process topics discusses in the video.

Evidence-based practice (EBP) in hospice care indicates use of palliative care in collaboration with hospice care. Palliative care goes hand in hand with hospice care, because palliative care is concentrated on providing relief from the pain and symptoms of serious illnesses. The goals of palliative care are to improve quality of life for both the patient and the family. Therefore, principals that are used in the palliative care can be directly related to the hospice care.

The first research study was a study on the experiences of family members being present during resuscitation efforts in the emergency room after a trauma. Some of the benefits of a family member being present are: the family feeling empowered and supportive, maintaining family-patient relationships, closure in a life shared and fostering the grief process (Leske, McAndrew, & Brasel, 2013).

My interest in the issues of grief and loss is to learn as much as I can to help others as well as myself. I am not completely healed from my grandmothers loss, but I am getting there. I know many people who are not even close to acceptance. Their losses took a toll in their lives and can’t seem to find a way out. I want to be able to help them find a way out. My personal goals for this course is to fully comprehend loss and what it does to people. Everyone is different when it come to dealing with loss. I want to be knowledgeable to help those who are not.

Grief groups will be led by two facilitators, at least one of which will be a trained therapist. All facilitators will undergo training at the center via a proprietary training program developed by the Executive Director. Facilitators will come from three sources: