Working effectively with traumatic grief Nicola Dobson Family - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Working effectively with traumatic grief Nicola Dobson – Family Support Services Lead Willow Wood Hospice, Tameside

Overview  What is grief?  Models of grief  Working with grief – methods & impact  Keeping ourselves safe

Lois Tonkin’s ‘Growing Around Grief’

Data from Apr-Dec 2017 – client categorisation at start of intervention  82.5% categorized with moderate to severe psychological distress  29% categorized with severe psychological distress

 Help people to see that grief is an active process which requires them to meet challenges  Support people to use coping strategies that work for them, and to develop new ones  Motivate people to resist the attractions of grief  Listen, suggest, rehearse, inspire, comfort, console, debrief, normalise, acknowledge, validate… Based on Attig, T. “ How We Grieve ” (1996)

Resources  Practical

Resources  Practical (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs)  Physical (strength, agility, activities)  Psychological (humour, memory, intelligence, coping mechanisms)  Inter-personal (people and animals)  Spiritual (faith and non-faith based)

Data from Apr-Dec 2017 – client categorisation at end of intervention  88% categorized as healthy or with low level or mild psychological distress  40% categorized as healthy  52% making significant movement of 3-5 categories

Keeping ourselves safe “You can’t wipe the tears from someone else’s face without getting your hands wet.” Zulu proverb

Any questions?