Grief Counseling Essay

One of the concepts that people do not understand about grief and loss is the general idea of what it is and how it impacts people. According to Teen Health and Wellness’s article “Grief and Loss: Experiencing Loss,” is what happens when you no longer have something or someone that was extremely significant in your life, and the emotions that result are very real to you. You are entitled to these emotions. Many experts believe that the best thing for a person grieving to do is to let themselves feel sad. Lattanzi-Licht writes, common symptoms of grief are: “guilt or anger; restlessness; a sense of unreality about the loss; difficulty sleeping, eating and concentrating; mood changes; a loss of energy; constant thoughts of the

This reflection paper will attempt to explore the grief and loss of my father as it relates to Stroebe and Schut’s Dual Process Model of Bereavement and Neimeyer’s Meaning Construction Model (cited in S. Lister, 2008).

People going through grief often feel disorganized and have difficulty eating, sleeping or concentrating. Grief counselors ease the expression of emotion and thought about the loss and give insight to their feelings (Doka 1996). There are numerous reactions to grief, both good and bad. Behaviors that deal with grief positively are through art, writing, support groups or celebrations of the loved one. Some negative ways to deal with grief include feelings of anger, frustration, helplessness, depression and withdrawal from family and friends. A common yet self-destructive way to cope with loss is by turning to substances such as alcohol or drugs. This also requires counselors in order to help them get to the root of their problems.

Each year thousands of teenagers experience the death of someone they love. When a parent, sibling, friend, or relative dies, teens feel the overwhelming loss of someone who helped shape their -fragile self-identities. Caring adults, whether parents, teachers, counselors or friends, can help teens during this time. If adults are open, honest and loving, experiencing the loss of someone loved can be a chance for young people to learn about both the joy and pain that comes from caring deeply for others. There are many common reactions to trauma, grief, and bereavement among teens. First of all, shock and denial. Feeling numb, stunned and dazed are healthy and normal reactions. Often, it is difficult to “take in” information. The grieved may

Wolterstorff, N. (1987). Lament of a Son. In Lament for a son. Michigan, 49505, Grand Rapids: Wm. B Eearmans Publishing 2140 Oak Industrial Drive, N.E.

Death is a universally experienced phenomenon. In the United States alone, over 2.6 million people die each year (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015). For practitioners, it is of utmost importance to better understand the process of grief to develop better interventions for bereaved individuals.

The most common effect of death in a family is known as grief. When we understand it better, it makes the process a little less daunting. We have to realize as humans, we are not alone. Everyone has lost someone they loved and it's a natural thing to deal with. There is no normal way of dealing with death. It doesn't have patterns or a set way of dealing with it.

This project is a learning stretch for me because I have never been on the other side of the group grief counseling. I have only been the one who is seeking counseling not the one giving it. It is a big learning stretch for me to take my experience with loss and turn it around into something good for the kids in the community who have lost someone. In the beginning of my project I had the opportunity to attend a grief counseling volunteer class which helped me learn the do’s and don’ts of counseling. This helped me learn how to help the children and I can later apply this learning for my future career.

The Cokesbury United Methodist Church grief support group follows a thirteen-week curriculum from GriefShare, however, new members can join in at any time as each week has a “self-contained” lesson. The topic for the week I attendee focused on the “why” of losing a loved one. Through following this curriculum, the group seeks to equip members with “essentials to recover from the hurt of grief and loss.” (GriefShare, n.d.) The group focuses on helping members rebuild their lives after they experience tremendous loss and grief through facing the challenge together. (GriefShare, n.d.)

The topic that this writer will discuss in this paper is grief counseling. We’ve all experienced this expected emotion or reaction to the loss of someone or something essential. Grief is this powerful emotion that can possibly become traumatic in the lives of some people. Greif comes in phases and most people will go through the phase of denial, anger, guilt, sadness, despair, acceptance, hope, and the aftershock.

The stages of mourning and grief are universal and are experienced by people from all walks of life. Mourning occurs in response to an individual’s own terminal illness or to the death of a valued being, human or animal. There are five stages of normal grief that were first proposed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book “On Death and Dying.”

Denial: a conscious or unconscious refusal to accept facts, information, reality. After the many tragedies that afflicted Job, his wife told him to curse God for all that was done to him. (Job 2:9-10) refusing to accept the fact that this was God’s doing Job would not do as his wife wanted. Another example is in chapter 22 when Job’s friend Eliphaz accuses him of doing bad things “Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite? (Job22:5). Job denies this and replies saying” But he knowth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold (Job 23:10).

Black Americans can have different emotions from crying to being silent. People usually gather in large gatherings to pay respect. Black Americans have a belief that death is God’s will and the deceased is in God’s hand and will be reunited

In order for a bereavement counselor to be able to help a survivor process the pain of grief they must first create a warm and welcoming environment. I would like to discuss a few things I believe are important that a bereavement counselor possess and do in order to help others through the process of grief. For a person seeking counseling they need to feel comfortable in their surroundings in order to feel comfortable enough to open up and talk about what is troubling them.

The loss of a loved one is a very crucial time where an individual can experience depression, somatic symptoms, grief, and sadness. What will be discussed throughout this paper is what the bereavement role is and its duration, as well as the definition of disenfranchised grief and who experiences this type of grief. I will also touch upon the four tasks of mourning and how each bereaved individual must accomplish all four tasks before mourning can be finalized. Lastly, with each of these topics, nursing implications will be outlined on how to care for bereaved individuals and their families.