1. NCFE Level 3 Diploma in Counselling Skills
Lesson 11
NCFE Level 3 Diploma in Counselling Skills

2. Learning Objectives Bereavement and Loss Lifeline
How bereavement impacts on us and our clients
Complex bereavement
Lifeline
Bereavement - Models by:
Stroebe & Schut
Kubler-Ross
Worden
Rubin (additional model)

3. What is bereavement? Dictionary:
1.a period of mourning after a loss, especially after the death of a loved one
2.a state of intense grief, as after the loss of a loved one; desolation.
3.deprivation or loss by force (usually fol. by of): The hurricane left a trail of bereavement of ordinary 
people.

4. What is complex bereavement?
Symptoms are interminable without improvement.
Symptoms lasts for at least a year or more.
Bereavement interferes with one’s ability to return to routine activities
Prolonged symptoms may include:
Intense sadness
Preoccupation with the deceased or with the circumstances surrounding the death
Longing or yearning
Feelings of emptiness or meaninglessness
Difficulty engaging in happy memories
Avoidance of reminders of the deceased
Lack of desire in pursuing personal interests or plans
Bitterness or anger

5. Possible effects of bereavement:

6. Your lifeline
Drawing a lifeline

8. Dual Process – Model by Stroebe & Schut

9. Worden’s 4 tasks: 1. Accept the reality of the loss.
2. Process the pain and grief.
3. Adjust to a life without the deceased.
4. Maintain a connection with the deceased whilst exploring a new life.

10. Extra: Rubin’s 2-track model of bereavement

11. Bereavement-models and me
How do you recognize the bereavement models in your own life? For instance, what is the balance between the bereavement and picking back up your life? Do you recognize the 4 tasks by Worden?
Note: Choose a safe enough topic to reflect on.

12. 1 Case with 3 different models
You are a counsellor working for Cruse Bereavement Care. You get a referral for a new client, a 19-year old young woman named Carla. About a month ago she has lost her father, and she feels she is really struggling. She never had a good relationship with him and she wishes she had spend more time with him, rather than spending their time arguing. She has lived on her own for about a year, and is unsure how to support her mum through this.
Carla is studying at the college in Southend-on-Sea, but wonders if this might be too difficult for her at the moment to continue. She often feels she cannot concentrate in class anymore, as she thinks about her dad a lot. At the same time she does not want to think about him, as it makes her feel feels low. She cannot believe he is gone. She struggles to talk about this with anyone, as she tends to keep things to herself.

13. Did we cover this? Bereavement and Loss Lifeline
How bereavement impacts on us and our clients
Complex bereavement
Lifeline
Bereavement - Models by:
Stroebe & Schut
Kubler-Ross
Worden
Rubin (additional model)

14. Homework
Reflection: How did you cope with your bereavements, using any or all of the three different bereavement models studied, what did you learn?

15. Closing