BPS209 Grief Counselling

Grief is a term used to describe all the thoughts, behaviour and feelings that occur after someone goes through a bereavement. A bereavement is any event that includes a loss. We may experience loss through the death of someone close to us, or a relationship breakdown, divorce, theft, a disability, illness, miscarriage and so on. There is no “right” way to respond to a death, people will cope with a death in their own way. The way they respond will be affected by their relationship with the person who has died, their own upbringing, their previous reactions to losses, their other relationships etc. Holidays, anniversaries, Christmas and so on can be difficult times for the bereaved, as they can remind us of the person they have lost. Grief can be worse at these times of year. There is no single way to grieve. Everyone is different and each person grieves in his or her own way. However, some stages of grief are commonly experienced by people when they are bereaved.

Lesson Structure

There are 8 lessons in this course:

Nature and Scope of Grief and Bereavement
Stages of grief
Grief and Children
Grief and adolescents
Adjustment to Bereavement
Abnormal Grief
Preparing for Grief and Bereavement
Future outlook and long-term grief

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.
Aims

Describe the nature and scope of grief and bereavement counselling and individuals’ attitudes to grief.
To identify through continuing exploration, the meaning and responses of a wide range of loss situations, taking cultural variations into account.
To describe the different ways that children may respond to grief and to develop appropriate strategies for helping them to cope.
Determine the different ways that adolescents may respond to grief and to examine how these perspectives have translated into counselling practice
Describe the different means through which individuals are able to adjust to loss and to consider other options available to them.
Describe when an individual’s response to grief may be considered abnormal and to discuss methods of assisting such individuals.
Define the different ways of preparing for grief and bereavement and to consider social, cultural and psychological perspectives.
Describe separation, loneliness, the effects of long-term grief and long-term counselling support strategies.

What You Will Do

List euphemisms for dying.
Consider factors that can help set the conditions for the good death
Discuss the ways that a wake or funeral service can be of help to mourners.
Discuss contemporary attitudes toward death in society and how they affect the treatment of dying.
Describe the stages of grief.
Explain why people pass through different stages at different times and not in a particular order.
List mechanisms available to help a counsellor support someone who is grieving.
Describe ways in which children might respond to grief.
Explain why different children respond to grief in different ways.
Describe counselling strategies for supporting the grieving child.
Research how adolescents respond to grief.
Outline counselling strategies for supporting the grieving adolescent.
List suicide prevention strategies.
Explain in general how we adjust to loss.
List some dangers of loss.
Describe some alternatives for loss recovery.
Research how bereavement affects survivors.
Describe some abnormal responses to grief, and how they are determined to be abnormal.
Describe some treatment methods for assisting a person suffering from abnormal grief.
Briefly describe symptoms of PTSD
Discuss socio-cultural perspectives in preparing for grief and bereavement.
Research physiological and psychological effects of separation and loneliness in the aged.
Describe some effects of long term grief.
Outline some long term counselling support strategies.
Compare effective and ineffective support for people going through grief and loss.

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