Understanding Grief and Coping Strategies

This assignment delves into the intricate nature of grief, examining its impact on individuals and families. It encourages critical analysis of various grief theories and models, highlighting the significance of social support systems in navigating bereavement. The assignment emphasizes the importance of understanding different coping mechanisms and their effectiveness in promoting healthy grieving processes.

Running head: COUNSELLING
Counselling for grief and loss
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Week 2
My mom had one brother, with whom my grandmother who was 68 years old was staying. A few
months ago my uncle died due to a car accident and we bring my grandmother to our home.
From then my grandmother went into depression and later she is suffering from dementia. As the
primary treatment of the dementia patient begins at home. My mom had become her foremost
carer who looks after her all the time. My mom had left her job too for taking grandmother’s
care. She had completely devoted her life for caring of grandmother. She passed away last month
at the age of 79.
There are some questions which I want to ask my mother by being a counsellor would be, “what
do you feel this time?” As grandmother was so close to you and spend most of the time with her,
what will you do now to fulfill the time? Do you need any help from other family members?
What will you do to stay away from the grief of loss? (Aoun et al. 2017)
Week 3
I personally think that the patient must be provided with mental support. She must be
acknowledged with warmth, empathy and love. She must be provided with some personal space
so that she can remember all the love they had shared. She must be allowed to do all the rituals
for her beloved and to provide chance for her grief.
As there were no such funeral was done she does not get time to grief for her loved one. When
someone talks about grief there are no rules or regulation being applied. It is important to do the
essential things for Mary to do the necessary things she needs in mourning and grief.

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After all these things she must supported by counselling. It might be at home or might at the
doctor’s chamber. She must be handled very carefully as she felt disenfranchised. She must
provide with that comfort level so that her feeling of disenfranchised gets removed and she can
lead a normal life again (Robinson, Evelyn. Long Term Outcomes of Losing a Child through
Adoption: The Impact of Disenfranchised Grief. Grief Matters: The Australian Journal of Grief
and Bereavement, Vol. 10, No. 1, Autumn 2007: 8-11.
Week 4
As we people are different, the grieving for everyone is also different. Some of the people
can grief in less time but some of them need year after year for grieving. It mainly depends upon
the circumstances of deaths causes the impact of grieving. The grieving of a person is depended
on the functions of a person’s life. It mainly depends upon the eating habits, the daily activities
and the sleeping habits. They need to know that there is a wide range of emotions and behaviour
that is associated with grief. Hence the thoughts of the grief continues to extend which leads to
the struggle of an individual in their daily life activities; had problem in sleeping, unable to
concentrate on the work. So in order to work with this type client I would like to found out what
they are wanting and also for assisting towards their work (Machin, Bartlam and Bartlam, 2015).
The counsellor must not make the assessment under DSM; it is a task of the doctor and a
psychiatrist or a psychologist. Hence from the point of view of counsellor I generally think that
which treatment is important for the client. Thus the patient who is grieving the loss of the loved
one cannot be diagnosed under DSM IV.
This type of counselling includes finding of the techniques which can assist them in
doing their daily activities efficiently; concentrate on their work; able to sleep well and can

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return to their normal life. It can be done by taking out time for oneself for relaxation and giving
space between activities like counselling sessions.
Week 5
I agree in testing somebody when is troublesome and needs to be planned accurately as it
can make protection and further mischief that person. I too have ended up experiencing distress
and restraining it for a long time until the point when one day I was really going to my guiding 2
workshop and was tested by the instructor about whether I was sincerely feeling recouped as he
saw generally all over. I too have ended up experiencing sadness and containing it for a long
time until the point that one day I was really going to my directing 2 workshop and was tested by
the educator about whether I was sincerely feeling recouped as he saw generally all over.
The counsellor then found a cue when it comes a time to challenge the client with the help of
bringing presence of some of the therapeutic relationship. The counsellor must be aware of the
affects of some of the verbal and non-verbal cues which generally provides some opportunities
which deepen the self-awareness of the client and to understand their grief; which helps in
facilitating the personal growth of an individual. By the means of narrating their grief again and
again, the client gets closer to the counsellor and is able to show a eagerness to expand better
control on their grief and finding some ways by which they can function in a better way.
Niemeyer, 2014 (Winokuer and Harris, 2015, p. 100) makes a decent point, that actually,
we may never bring the expired individual back and that an open door for an intercession isn't as
imperative as the sentiment bolster the customer feels, that I, as their instructor will never
abandon them in their sorrow (I like this). I translate this as, an intercession may not generally be
fundamental, be that as it may, 'being there', tuning in, being alright with quiets and traveling

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with the customer through their agony is required in the part of viable melancholy guiding.
Likewise, you can't challenge a customer on the off chance that you have not first assembled a
customer focused relationship, expand on trust.
Week 6
It is important for a grief counsellor to understand that experiences and expression of
grief is different for every person that is shaped by culture. They need to know that there is a
wide range of emotions and behaviour that is associated with grief, however, it is evident that in
all cultures and places, grieving person benefit by seeking support from others. Grief counsellor
need to know the process of grieving in the culture of the person being counselled. The
counsellor should know how to draw on the strengths of the client and the development of
healthy coping mechanism can be done accordingly. The counsellor need to know the childhood
and family history with any past medical history as it can also influence process of grief. It is
also important to know the relationship of the deceased person with the client to resolve the areas
of conflict and address any kind of suicidal thoughts or depression due to the loss.
A grief counsellor needs to be culturally sensitive while observing people from different
heritage attending a grief session together. Counsellor need to be culturally sensitive while
supporting grief process with people from other cultures. Intercultural communication is
important that can help to communicate with people from different cultures during grieving
process (Stroebe and Schut 2015). Grief counsellor needs to develop emotions to understand and
appreciate the cultural differences so that appropriate and effective behaviour can be promoted
through intercultural communication. It is also important to view and develop awareness about

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the fundamental patterns of human interaction that would suffice cultural sensitivity during
communicating with people from different heritage and positive participation in grieving process
regardless of their profession (Davis 2015).
Week 7
Burnout recognition in oneself can be observed when one feels powerless in resolving the
recurring problems. There is also creation of stress when one is unable to solve the problems and
try to change the current reality. Moreover, there is also perceived inability in oneself when one
cannot concentrate, goals are drowning out and random thoughts are seeping in. There is also
lack of interest in socializing with others that can be observed by family members or peers.
There might also be feeling of carelessness or stagnation due to feeling of burnout. As it affects
differently, it is difficult to diagnose in oneself. The way to recognize burnout is not through
symptoms rather analysing that something is different and change is perceived negatively
(Skovholt and Trotter-Mathison 2014).
When I feel heavy and emotional, I distract myself by taking a break from the usual
schedule. Distraction techniques are good for the regulation of intense emotions, divert myself
towards watching television, attending art museums, playing games, writing down every emotion
that I feel in my diary, and then refocus when my nervous system settles down.
Self-soothing and self-motivation techniques can be helpful for a grief counsellor in
coping with heaviness and grief. There is no need of supervision as making good utilization of
time can be helpful in dealing with heaviness. It can be done by taking out time for oneself for
relaxation and giving space between activities like counselling sessions. Exercise, yoga and

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meditation can be helpful in improving the mood and general health. Devoting time towards
interests and hobbies can be helpful in forgetting the motional thoughts. Moreover, socialising
can also be helpful by interacting with others or sharing feelings with a close person (Skovholt
and Trotter-Mathison 2016).
Week 8
Before the family session, it is important to talk to the family members individually.
During individual session, it is important to talk to every family member, children including
father that would help to know the areas of personal conflict within them that is giving rise to
arguments. Moreover, it would also be helpful in developing individual conflict management
styles for the family members. This needs to be noted down to be discussed in the family session.
During the family session, the personal conflicts, feelings and resentment towards each
other can be discussed openly to each other. The questions involve the type of feelings, reasons
for resentment that they have for each other need to be discussed in the family session that can
pave the way for developing strategies to resolve conflicts between them and bring the family
together at the end of the session.
When the family comes together for session, there is collaboration and management of
conflict through negotiation between them. This also helps to explore the areas of disagreement,
generation of alternatives and reaching a mutually satisfying solution. This collaboration of
conflict management would allow the family members to learn things from the others’
perspective (Ducharme et al. 2015). Compromising during the family session can also be helpful
to manage conflict through splitting of difference so that the solution partially satisfies all the

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family members. It is also useful in a way as there is fast decision-making on the family
disagreements and brings the family together at the end of the session (Petch et al. 2014).
Week 9
When I saw a young person underwent loss during his childhood, I observed the change
in feelings that was over powering him. I could feel that there was change in his behaviour and
negativity was prevailing. He was not willing to socialise with others and confined himself. He
was unable to interact with others and went through emotional turmoil with myriad of feelings.
He was unable to cope up with his feelings and wanted to seek support from his family and close
ones.
In context to rituals or beliefs system, I observed that there was spiritual practice and
prayers were held to address the spiritual needs of the deceased person. Mourning sessions are
held to offer prayers to the deceased person so that his or her soul rest in peace. While working
with an adult who did not acknowledge his or her childhood loss, life history narrative can be
helpful to know about the childhood and history of the client. Narrative inquiry through
interpersonal sensitive communication can be helpful for making the client comfortable and at
ease to reveal his or her history (Norton and Gino 2014). This can be helpful in exchanging
information, meaning and feelings through verbal and non-verbal communication (Neimeyer,
Klass and Dennis 2014).

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References
Davis, P. 2015. Differences Between Individual-based and Collective-based Systems of
Culture. 36Chronic Illness–, 27.
Ducharme, F., Lachance, L., Lévesque, L., Zarit, S.H. and Kergoat, M.J., 2015. Maintaining the
potential of a psycho-educational program: Efficacy of a booster session after an intervention
offered family caregivers at disclosure of a relative's dementia diagnosis. Aging & mental
health, 19(3), pp.207-216.
Neimeyer, R.A., Klass, D. and Dennis, M.R., 2014. A social constructionist account of grief:
Loss and the narration of meaning. Death Studies, 38(8), pp.485-498
Norton, M.I. and Gino, F., 2014. Rituals alleviate grieving for loved ones, lovers, and
lotteries. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(1), p.266.
Petch, J., Murray, J., Bickerdike, A. and Lewis, P., 2014. Psychological distress in Australian
clients seeking family and relationship counselling and mediation services. Australian
Psychologist, 49(1), pp.28-36.
Skovholt, T.M. and Trotter-Mathison, M., 2014. The resilient practitioner: Burnout prevention
and self-care strategies for counselors, therapists, teachers, and health professionals. Routledge.

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Skovholt, T.M. and Trotter-Mathison, M., 2016. The resilient practitioner: Burnout and
compassion fatigue prevention and self-care strategies for the helping professions. Routledge.
Stroebe, M. and Schut, H., 2015. Family matters in bereavement: Toward an integrative intra-
interpersonal coping model. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(6), pp.873-879.
Aoun, S.M., Rumbold, B., Howting, D., Bolleter, A. and Breen, L.J., 2017. Bereavement support
for family caregivers: The gap between guidelines and practice in palliative care. PloS one,
12(10), p.e0184750.
Robinson, Evelyn. Long Term Outcomes of Losing a Child through Adoption: The Impact of
Disenfranchised Grief. Grief Matters: The Australian Journal of Grief and Bereavement, Vol. 10,
No. 1, Autumn 2007: 8-11.
Machin, L., Bartlam, R. and Bartlam, B., 2015. Identifying levels of vulnerability in grief using
the Adult Attitude to Grief scale: from theory to practice. Bereavement Care, 34(2), pp.59-68.
Parkes, C.M., 2014. Diagnostic criteria for complications of bereavement in the DSM-
5. Bereavement Care, 33(3), pp.113-117.