Viewing Volume 4 Issue 1 Summer 2001
The need for groups like us!
Bereavement support as an integral component of a holistic framework of palliative care and is a complex and sensitive process. It is recognised that bereavement support exists within the context of MABF’s Mission Statement and Aims and Objectives, it is the philosophical underpinning of our organisation as a whole. The dying person, family and carers exist within a community of care, which has many multidisciplinary elements - friends, palliative care staff, G.P’s, health workers, religious and spiritual connections and amongst many other community links is MABF.
There are normal processes associated with loss and grief, both before and after death. Bereavement support and counselling is made available by MABF to ameliorate the stress of grief not to ‘fix’ grief or force its natural course of process. Although bereavement support generally refers to post death activities it is acknowledged that the influence of pre death care and communication is crucial with respect to bereavement outcomes. The pain of bereavement is a core human experience. The continual witnessing of this pain by bereavement support staff exacts an emotional toll despite the potential rewards of the work. The design and provision of the service we provide needs to reflect this impact.
MABF’s role is part of a wider context of responsibility in facilitating change in the community’s attitude to grief and the bereaved. Bereavement support is an integral part of palliative care services in their existing form, but needs to be socially and culturally diverse in the community. As part of evaluating the outcome of our service it is difficult to define a bereavement outcome, as there is no identifiable ‘end point’ to grief. As Lattanzi-Licht, 1988 stated “We cannot take people’s pain away. We can offer to stand with them in some critical moments, giving them time and a human message that will encourage them to continue on into the future”.
MABF has a role in community education and health promotion activities on grief and loss is a resource provided from the office base. This is provided to community members and staff from other support services. The office staff know about the range of other support resources available to clients and can help provide information on how to access them.
Bereaved clients have access to a range of support services that are sensitive and appropriate to a person’s needs in particular, life stage and style of grieving.
Clients have access to in-house or external specialist counselling services; they are fully informed about the services available to them.
There is a confidential system for documenting referral information.
Hopefully, the guiding philosophy of the care we deliver to clients and user groups is part of a broader system of care.
We will continue to be proactive in providing information to those in the community who ask for our help and support.
The bereavement field has traditionally focused attention on what has been lost or on the pain of missing what has now gone. The field has delineated stages and tasks to describe how grief should manifest. This focus has guided clinicians and often lay thinking, to think about surviving as living with rigid trajectory of grief. The danger is the risk of promoting iatrogenic injury by entrenching a person in stories of loss as they dwell on their emotions like sadness, anger, and denial for a period of time, in prescribed ways. These beliefs can consequently act as unnecessary beacons that permeate the culture and evaluate those that mourn differently from others as abnormal. The psychological models that foster this way of thinking assume that if we face our pain and indulge our emotions, we will prevail and move forward to a new and better place – a place adjusted to life without our loved one (Bowlby, 1980: Tatelbaum, 1980: Parkes, 1972: Worden, 1991). In these models, emotional stages and tasks are seen as essential recovery processes, which promise, or at least imply, a cure from grief when one’s individual status is reclaimed.
Recently, there has been a shift in thanatological beliefs. Authors have offered challenges to previously understood meanings about death and grief, Klass; Silverman and Nickman’s Continuing Bonds, (1996) is one such account that stretches the model of individual grief. Neimyer (1998) and Attig (2000) have represented pivotal ideas to incorporate meaning making.
When a person dies, we don’t have to assume that their relationship dies. The deceased can continue to be thought of as a spouse, parent, son or daughter. There are no endings to these relationships except those that we arbitrarily create.
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Responding to the needs of schools in supporting bereaved children.
St. Christopher’s Candle Project.
Children spend about six hours a day in school and will probably see more of their teachers than any other adult outside the immediate family. St. Christopher’s Candle Project launched a research “Responding to the needs of schools in supporting bereaved children” in 1998, the results of which were published in the spring issue of Bereavement Care Magazine.
The findings in this research support the initiation of our Schools Liaison Project, September 2000, which is trying to initiate training for teaching staff in schools with relation to child grief and loss issues.
If you need a leaflet on the Project, contact the office or download it from this Web Site.
The aim of the Project is:-
Teach about death and loss.
Provide advice on training.
Initiate school bereavement policies.
Provide a basic understanding of the grief process.
At present we are working with two Local Education Authorities and hope to expand throughout Greater Manchester Schools.
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BOOK REVIEW
“Crucial Decisions at the beginning of life”
by Hazel McHaffe
ISBN 1 85775 4794
This is a unique and valuable work, which traces the experience of over 100 parents who have lived through the loss of a baby. It follows them from pregnancy through 13 months after the death. Based on rigorous scientific research it describes their feelings when crucial decisions are made on behalf of their child, and examines the capacity to take responsibility for such decisions. By analysing those factors, which help or hinder them, the book provides guidance to health professionals on how the service they offer.
“On the Death of a Child”
by Celia Hindmarch.
ISBN 1 85775 445
This has become a classic text of immense value to everyone dealing with bereaved families. This new updated edition draws on the experiences of recent traumas and developments in support services. It guides the reader through the latest research on bereavement and gives more prominence to the needs of grieving children and youngsters.
“Relating to Relatives”
by T. Brewin & M. Sparshott
ISBN 1 85775 0810
This is about breaking bad news, communication and support. The contents are; Who will see the relatives? – More communication skills and suggestions – Diagnosis and Prognosis – Denial, optimism and uncertainty – Remedies, remissions and relapses The relatives perspective – Terminal illness.
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8th International Annual Conference – Bereavement & Loss
Wednesday 12th September 2001
“Bereavement in Later Life”
WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND…..
To raise awareness of the needs of bereaved older people in contemporary society.
To address the multiplicity of issues surrounding grief in later life.
Personal development; enabling you to be more effective in your role.
Quality speakers, giving an up to date insight into a topical subject.
The chance to network with colleagues from other areas.
PROGRAMME:
Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Margaret Stroebe - Centre for Bereavement Research, Utrecht.
Chris. Powell – Age Concern , England.
“The organisations support role”.
John Anderson – Sociologist, London.
“Changes in Lifestyle”.
Dr. R. Woof – University of Birmingham.
“The GP’s role in the community”.
Dr. Phyllis Rolf Silverman - Harvard, USA.
“Continuing Bonds; issues for widows and widowers”.
A. Shakoor – Health Promotion Dept
“The Multicultural Aspects of Grief”.
Dr. S. Woods - Lecturer in Bioethics.
“The bioethics of grief in later life “.
Dr. John Costello – Manchester University School of Nursing.
“The expectations and complications of grief in later life”.
COST OF CONFERENCE:-
MABF Members £95
Non-members £130
All delegates after July 12th £160
This includes lunch, refreshments and all relevant conference handouts.
Accommodation is the delegate’s responsibility; BED and BREAKFAST is available at reduced rates on the college campus at a fee of £35 per person payable to the college in advance.
There is secure parking and CCTV
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