A practical introduction to setting up and facilitating bereavement support groups, guiding the reader through all stages. It examines the different skills needed, and uses case studies and research to suggest models of best practice across a range of group settings. The guidance will help make groups successful for participants and facilitators.

Filling the gap between the challenges to conventional grief psychology and the practice of bereavement counseling, this structured guide will also inspire readers with a new way of thinkingNincluding the stories and love that remain after death. Here is a model for folding the deceased person's values, legacies, meanings, and connections into the lives of the living.

When we're grieving the death of someone loved, we need the support and compassion of our fellow human beings. Grief support groups provide a wonderful opportunity for this very healing kind of support. This book is for professional or lay caregivers who want to start and lead an effective grief support group for adults. It explains how to get a group started and how to keep it running smoothly once it's underway. The group leader's roles and responsibilities are explored in detail, including communication skills, trust building, handling problems, and more.This Guide also includes twelve meeting plans that interface with the second editions of Understanding Your Grief and The Understanding Your Grief Journal. Each week group members read a chapter in the main text, complete a chapter in the journal, and come to group ready for you to guide them through an exploration of the content. Meeting plans include suggestions for how to open each session as well as engaging exercises and activities. A Certificate of Completion you can photocopy and give to group members in the final meeting is provided.

The Grief Support Group Curriculum provides a basis for assisting children and teenagers as they learn about mourning through facing death of a close or special friend. The aim of this curriculum is to facilitate healthy variations of mourning and positive adaptations following the death of a friend or family member. The work illustrates mourning in four stages of development and is accordingly divided into four separate texts. The texts focus on preschool-aged children, children in kindergarten through grade two, children in grades three through six, and teenagers.

Those who have been bereaved are in need of support, and groupwork is an effective way in which people can come together and support each other in a trusted environment. This book provides a practical introduction to setting up and facilitating bereavement support groups, giving facilitators the confidence to run a group. It guides the reader through all the stages of setting up a group, and examines different types of facilitation and the skills needed. Case studies illustrate different types of group, such as closed, time-limited groups and open groups, with a discussion about the potential of online groups. Chapters also cover group dynamics, handling challenging situations, and overcoming problems that may arise. This accessible book helps to make groups successful for both participants and facilitators, and is a valued source of information and guidance for those working with bereaved people, including hospice and hospital staff, counsellors, trainers, managers and social workers.

Susan Hansen's Grief and Loss Support Group Facilitator's Manual contains everything a group leader needs to facilitate a 10-week grief and loss support group for students or clients ages 12 to adult. The manual includes step-by-step activities, detailed lesson plans, handouts, support group guidelines, tips for effective group facilitation, a sample group flyer and parent permission slip, and ASCA standards for those who are facilitating a school-based support group.The group sessions include a discussion of different types of losses, a loss checklist, the five stages of grief, five steps to take in addressing a loss, unsent letter templates, grab bag questions, and suggestions for creating a collage or other artwork to facilitate the healing process. For those who already own Susan's earlier resource book, Tools For Your Emotional Health Toolbox, this manual includes updated lesson plans, objectives, standards, handouts, and an easier-to-read font for all materials.

This book shows how you can embark on a process of sensitive conversation that helps the bereaved person to come to terms with their grief. Dodie Graves outlines a practical framework of six elements for conversing with bereaved people in a structured but flexible way that avoids prescriptive instructions.

Technically, there are two types of grief groups. The informative/supportive grief groups’ purpose is to promote grief education and awareness. It covers grief and bereavement in a more didactic fashion.The second type of grief group is therapeutic in nature. It is personal growth oriented groups focusing on facilitating the individual participant’s own personal loss process. Though many commonalities exist between these two types of groups each has its own unique dynamics and concerns. This book focuses on the second type of group, sometimes referred to as Grief Recovery Groups. I prefer the term “Grief Management.†I learned a long time ago that there is no recovery from grief precipitated by the loss of a beloved, but we can overcome.Settling the Storm is particularly designed for all who are currently leading a group, who are thinking about facilitating a grief group in the future or would like to learn some additional skills or ideas in creating a grief group within a small gathering of people. It was created and organized to help Facilitators plan and facilitate grief groups. It takes off by inviting you to self assess readiness to lead grievers on the journey through grief, reviews the typical characteristics of effective Facilitators, and accentuates the vital skills necessary for ensuring positive outcomes.The next chapter moves you on to a refresher glance at the anatomy of grief and bereavement by considering elements that influence grief; explores the categories of grief and discusses issues relative to grief of the elderly.The third section focuses on the essentials for group preparation and helps you organize your thoughts and ideas about groups. The practical aspects of goals and objectives, and other information are included to provide you with an adequate blueprint for the implementation of your first group session.The “Content of the Session†provides you with some thoughts and suggestions on what to do in your grief groups. In addition, setting up group guidelines, structuring cathartic activities and evaluating the group process are also covered.You will be given tried and proven methodologies used to promote the emotional and spiritual well-being of grieving group members and fundamental tools needed for ensuring the best possible results. A grief group curriculum that can be used as a model is integrated into the overall presentation. Optional resources are appended.

Compassionate communities are communities that provide assistance for those in need of end of life care, separate from any official heath service provision that may already be available within the community. This idea was developed in 2005 in Allan Kellehear’s seminal volume- Compassionate Cities: Public Health and End of Life Care. In the ensuing ten years the theoretical aspects of the idea have been continually explored, primarily rehearsing academic concerns rather than practical ones. Compassionate Communities: Case Studies from Britain and Europe provides the first major volume describing and examining compassionate community experiments in end of life care from a highly practical perspective. Focusing on community development initiatives and practice challenges, the book offers practitioners and policy makers from the health and social care sectors practical discussions on the strengths and limitations of such initiatives. Furthermore, not limited to providing practice choices the book also offers an important and timely impetus for other practitioners and policy makers to begin thinking about developing their own possible compassionate communities. An essential read for academic, practitioner, and policy audiences in the fields of public health, community development, health social sciences, aged care, bereavement care, and hospice & palliative care, Compassionate Communities is one of only a handful of available books on end of life care that takes a strong health promotion and community development approach.

In the early 1970s bereavement support groups were almost unknown. However, the obvious benefits of the group process for recovery - the mutual support and understanding that helps mourners to a better outlook - has created a demand for people who can organise and facilitate these groups. Addressing the basis and need for support groups for the bereaved, this book presents a theoretical overview, examines benefits and variety of support groups structured and unstructural, special populations and specifics for initiating, organising and running them, such as publicity. It differs from other treatments in that theory and practice are moulded into a how-to approach, with all procedures presented equally for the widest range of choices. Also included is a comprehensive book bibliography for adults, children, children's helpers and parents. This text is intended to be of use as a resource for professionals in the field of thanatology, including psychologists, psychiatrists, gerontologists, therapists, group counsellors, hospice workers, educators, funeral home directors, home health employees, hospital staff and volunteer organisations that work with survivors.