Adding a New Dimension to Grief Counseling: Creative Personal Ritual as a Therapeutic Tool for Loss, Trauma and Transition

2021 ◽  
pp. 003022282110192
Author(s):  
Terri Daniel
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Grief Counseling ◽  
Therapeutic Tool ◽  
Spiritual Meaning ◽  
Counseling Practice

This article explores the use of creative personal rituals and ceremonies for accepting loss, managing strong emotions and inviting the sacred into the grief journey. These tools can help clinicians incorporate spirituality and multi-cultural modalities into a grief counseling practice, and can be used effectively by both intuitive and instrumental grievers. The use of ritual and ceremony can also help end-of-life and bereavement professionals become more present for the dying, and more competent in spiritual meaning-making for the bereaved

Making Sense of Loss: A Content Analysis of End-of-Life Practitioners' Therapeutic Approaches

2008 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph M. Currier ◽  
Jason M. Holland ◽  
Robert A. Neimeyer
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Intervention Strategies ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Therapeutic Approaches ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Therapeutic Procedures

Clinical professionals working in end-of-life (EOL) contexts are frequently relied upon to address questions of meaning with dying and bereaved persons. Similar to the gulf between researchers and practitioners besetting the larger healthcare community, the voices of EOL practitioners are often underrepresented in the empirical literature. This study aimed to further the dialogue in the field of thanatology by surveying and describing the therapeutic approaches that EOL practitioners most commonly report using to facilitate meaning-making. A total of 119 practitioners from a range of EOL disciplines were surveyed to write about their intervention strategies for helping clients/patients make sense of loss. Overall, participants discussed using 23 different therapeutic approaches that comprised three overarching categories: 1) presence of the helping professional; 2) elements of the process; and 3) therapeutic procedures. Importantly, the results also indicated that practitioners from the different EOL occupations are converging on many of the same strategies for promoting meaning-making. Implications for future research on evaluating the effectiveness of meaning-making interventions are also discussed.

What family caregivers learn when providing care at the end of life: A qualitative secondary analysis of multiple datasets

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura M. Funk ◽  
Kelli I. Stajduhar ◽  
Linda Outcalt
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Family Caregivers ◽  
End Of Life Care ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
Individualized Educational Programs

AbstractObjective:Although growing numbers of family members provide end-of-life care for dying persons, caregivers frequently report lacking essential information, knowledge, and skills. This analysis explicates what family members learn during the process of providing end-of-life care.Method:Four qualitative interview studies of family caregivers to those at the end of life (n = 156) formed the basis of a secondary data analysis.Results:Thematic and cross-comparative analyses found three general kinds of learning that were described—knowledge about: (1) the situation and the illness (including what to expect), (2) how to provide care, and (3) how to access help. Learning gaps, preferences, and potential inequities were identified. Further, in some instances, participant talk about “learning” appears to reflect a meaning-making process that helps them accept their situation, as suggested by the phrase “I have had to learn.”Significance of Results:Findings can inform the development of individualized educational programs and interventions for family caregivers.

Diverse Approaches to Meaning-Making at the End of Life

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (12) ◽  
pp. 68-70
Author(s):  
Hollen N. Reischer ◽  
John Beverley
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Meaning Making
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