Grief and loss: a social work perspective
By: Rosa Susanna Durao Nhancale
Tags: Counseling, Grieving Children, Children, Grief And Loss, Social Work

AS A SUPPORTER, YOU PLAY A VERY IMPORTANT ROLE IN A CHILD’S LIFE

It is now well recognised that very young children, including babies, do experience grief, they just show it differently. When someone familiar dies, the overriding response in the under 5s is a sense of loss. Being too young to understand the cause, and lacking the vocabulary, they express their distress through their behaviour. https://childbereavementuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Supporting-bereaved-children-under5-years-of-age_07.18.pdf https://childbereavementuk.org/for-families/info-sheets/ Unresolved grief that can overwhelm children and possibly produce — begin to work on and process the now well-identified tasks of — normal grief https://www.lianalowenstein.com/articleComplicatedGriefGoldman.pdf As a supporter, you play a very important role in a child’s life — the work you do will not only serve them in their grief, but will help them to cope with other challenges that they might face in their lives. https://www.childrenandyouthgriefnetwork.com/#handbook

IMPROVE THE BEST PRACTICES OF FRONTLINE PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL WORKERS

This paper describes a case study of the application of ideas and practices from grief therapy in eight sessions of work with a child by integrating the art and play elements. The social worker helped the client to go through four tasks suggested by Worden (1991) for handling grief, which consist of accepting the reality of the loss, working through the pain of grief, adjusting to an environment in which the deceased is missing, and emotionally relocating the deceased and moving on with life. Excerpts from the transcription of the different sessions are included to demonstrate the positive changes of client’s mood and behaviours. http://ssweb.cityu.edu.hk/download/RS/E-Journal/Vol2/journal10.pdf Death, Dying, and Bereavement: Contemporary Perspectives,. Supporting Grieving Children by Linda Goldman. Their chapters discuss the most significant facets of early development, review important current work, and assess major challenges and hopes for the future in the areas of their expertise. A substantial chronology of important milestones in the contemporary movement introduces the book, frames the chapters to follow, and provides guidance for further, in-depth reading. The book first focuses on the interdisciplinary intellectual achievements that have formed the foundation of the field of thanatology. The section on institutional innovations encompasses contributions in hospice and palliative care of the dying and their families; funeral service; and death education. The section on practices addresses approaches to counseling and providing support for individuals, families, and communities on issues related to dying, bereavement, suicide, trauma, disaster, and caregiving. An Afterword identifies challenges and looks toward future developments that promise to sustain, further enrich, and strengthen the movement. http://lghttp.48653.nexcesscdn.net/80223CF/springerstatic/media/samplechapters/9780826171412/9780826171412_chapter.pdf Grief and loss theory in social work practice: All changes involve loss, just as all losses require change https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1447-0748.2005.00201.x

(PRE)SCHOOL SOCIAL WORK WITH GRIEVING CHILDREN

Social workers’ communication with children involved in child protection https://www.iriss.org.uk/resources/irissfm/social-workers-communication-children-involved-childprotection. A review of the literature reveals few articles that deal with social work with grieving children in the public school setting. The purpose of this research is to describe and analyze the services that school social workers provide to grieving children. Grieving children are defined as those who have experienced loss through death of someone significant (e.g., parent, sibling, grandparent, friend).

This research addressed the following questions:

What are school social workers’ experiences working with grieving children? 2) What services are provided? 3) Which interventions do school social workers utilize? 4) To what community resources do school social workers refer grieving students? 5) How prepared do school social workers feel to provide support to grieving children? 6) How and by whom are grieving children identified and assessed? 7) Are other disciplines providing services to grieving children in schools? If so, what services are they providing? and 8) Do barriers exist in providing school social work to grieving students? If yes, what are they? https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/58005/1/QuinnLee_umn_0130E_10809.pdf

If you are working in a social-help field and want to get more information (theoretical and practical methodology, unique innovative approaches, extraordinary prospects), learn more and more systematically about working with children who have suffered loss, then contact us. Introduce us in a few words and we will help you to apply the most up-to-date experiential knowledge in your own work with the affected children. thank you for working with us on this matter.

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