The purpose of grief support groups are analyzed using the intervention wheel, which evaluate the grief support groups as a tool in improving the mental health of the University of Saskatchewan population. There are three elements that produce the intervention wheel: first, population based, second, it includes three levels of practice – community, system, and individual, and third the model identifies 17 public health interventions (Keller, Strohschein, Hoagber, & Schaffer, 2004). Interventions are actions public health nurses use to improve the health of the population (Keller, Strohschein, Hoagber, & Schaffer, 2004). Implementation of a grief support groups will improve the mental health of a select group of individuals in the university …show more content…
Nurses participate in this intervention by addressing health concerns and supporting individuals and groups of students at the University of Saskatchewan campus (Schaffer, Anderson, and Rising, 2015). Grief support groups as an intervention falls in the realm of counseling, where there is an establishment of an interpersonal relationship with a community, a system, and family or individual to increase or enhance their capacity for self care and coping (Keller, Strohschein, Hoagber, & Schaffer, 2004). Counseling can engage a community, a system, and family or individuals that are suffering from grief, and through supports and therapy the needs of the students are addressed on an emotional level (Keller, Strohschein, Hoagber, & Schaffer, …show more content…
Secondary prevention detects and treats problems in the early stages. It keeps problems, such as grief, from causing long-term effects; where early grief can lead to complicated grief, anxiety disorders, depression, mood disorders, and maybe even suicide if left unaddressed (Keller, Strohschein, Hoagber, & Schaffer, 2004). A grief support group can identify risks or hazards and modifies, removes, or treats problems before they become more serious (Keller, Strohschein, Hoagber, & Schaffer, 2004). Grief support groups would act as a secondary intervention and a support group would be implemented after the problem has occured, such as a great loss in one’s life, but before signs and symptoms appear, such as depression or anxiety (uOttawa, 2015). Grief is a natural reaction to the loss of a person, but checks and balances need to be in place to prevent grief from becoming pathological, a mental illness, and completely
Sakinofsky, I. (2007). The Aftermath of Suicide: Managing Survivors' Bereavement. Canadian Journal Of Psychiatry, 52129S-136S.
Upon receiving the news that a loved one had died, those left to mourn, called survivors, often find themselves entangled in a complex web of emotions and reactions. The death of a loved one can be a frightening, overwhelming, and painful experience and the physical, psychological, and social effects of loss are articulated through the practice of grief. Grief has been known to be experienced in five stages called the Five Stages of Grief where each phase of the grieving process will go from initial denial to the slow healing of acceptance. However, the devastating aftermath of a loss of a loved one, coupled with the suffering experienced through the five stages of grief can cause the survivor to commit suicide themselves.
The book, A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis, (1961), was written from his journal he kept after the death Lewis’s wife, Joy Davidman in 1960. Lewis was a bachelor for almost 58 years before he married Joy Davidman Greshman in March of 1959. His wife had been diagnosed with cancer before he met her, however, they fell in love and spent their short time together before cancer took her life in 1960. A Grief Observed is C. S. Lewis’s chronicles of his personal observations and struggles that Lewis went through with the loss of his beloved wife. Below are some questions for added discussion and thought about the book.
To locate a grieving support group, connect with local hospitals, hospices, community centers, funeral homes, and counseling centers (Smith, 2014). The second positive coping method is taking care of one’s needs. The burden of losing a loved one can devastate both body and mind. Caring for one’s physical and emotional needs, will make the make the heavy weight of bereavement, a lighter load. One important step in taking care of one’s self is to battle fatigue and hardship with exercising daily, and eating healthy.
By attending these sessions, I hoped to gain a better understating of support groups and enhance my ability to effectively lead groups. Beyond doubt, both of my objectives were met and so much more. From the onset, I learned that it is important for a group leader to encourage and support the group members. Many of the members who attended the Anchor Club wanted to be loved, understood and not judged. Most importantly, they were striving to maintain their sobriety. As a group leader encouragement and support would help members deal with anxiety and share their feeling openly (Jacobs, Schimmel, Masson, & Harvill, 2016, p.
Individually, everyone has their own methods of dealing with situations and emotions regardless of any positive or negative connotation affixed to them. One prime example of this comes with grief. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her 1969 book “On Death and Dying” suggests that there are five stages of mourning and grief that are universal and, at one point or another, experienced by people from all walks of life. These stages, in no particular order, are as follows: Denial and Isolation, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and finally Acceptance. Each individual person works through these stages in different orders for varying levels of time and intensity, but most if not all are necessary to “move on.” In order for positive change to occur following a loss, one must come to terms with not only the event but also themselves.
The theory of chronic sorrow is not a new one. It was introduced in the early sixties as a way of explaining the ongoing waves of grief experienced by parents of children with severe mental disabilities (Eakes, Burke, & Hainsworth, 1998). Since this early conceptualization, the theory has evolved significantly and has demonstrated important applications to nursing practice; by understanding how chronic sorrow affects patients, nurses are better equipped to guide them through this distinct and unique coping mechanism and ensure that they do not engage in pathological grief states such as depression (Gordon, 2009). In order to provide effective support to patients experiencing chronic sorrow, it is crucial for nurses to understand not only the nature of chronic sorrow, but also the situations that preclude it and how to differentiate it from other commonly confounded but distinct loss responses and pathologies (Casale, 2009).
Jackson, K. (2013). Understanding traumatic grief - Mass violence, shattered lives. Social Work Today, 13(3). May/June, 12. Retrieved from http://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/051313p12.shtml
This article investigates the need for expanded grief interventions in the ID population. The authors look at a growing interest in the signs of grief that cause long term problems while acknowledging that too little is known about the grieving
Back in November I wrote about how the field is shifting it’s thinking on complicated grief and some of the controversy surrounding the changes to grief as an exclusionary criteria for depression. I still agree that the change was a step in the right direction and with that in mind, we’re going to look at how CBT can be useful in addressing avoidance behaviors within the context of complicated grief.
In my case study, I will be talking about a personal experience with a family I know very well. I will not be using their actual names; I’ll be using these names instead: the daughter, Cheyenne, the father, Jim, and the mother Lucy.
The project scope looks specifically at the RTS annual National Bereavement Education conference hosted at its home location in LaCrosse,
Ruth presented aspects of “An education model for explaining hospice services” (Welk, 1991). She discussed the four dimensions of support for the patient and family within hospice care, which are physical, emotional/psychological, social, and spiritual and gave examples of how the various dimensions of support could occur. She explained the purpose of hospice is to allow the patient to live as full as possible and comfortably until the end of life. She explained hospices services takes the “…conflict out of social situations, helps to subside the fear emotionally, attempts to remove as much pain physically and addresses decreasing despair spiritually thus easing the suffering” (Welk, 1991, p. 16) of the patient and
Miers, D., Abbott, D., & Springer, P. R. (2012). A phenomenological study of family needs following the suicide of a teenager. Death Studies, 36(2), 118-133. Retrieved from
Bereaved Parents go through grief, but extremely more intense than the average individual who has lost a loved one. Grief is different for every individual depending on the loss, and person they lost. Regarding implications and policy for grief, my finding point to the need of education around this topic for schools, social workers, hospitals and therapists. More professional’s services should be provided for not just individuals going through grief, but individuals who have lost a child or who have prolonged grief. Support groups and specialize grief interventions should be implanted into communities for families who are having a difficulty adapting to the death of their child. The high rates of marital problems, health related problems and depression should also be addressed. There should be some therapeutic interventions that reach out to bereaved parents