1st Edition

Helping Bereaved Parents A Clinician's Guide

    204 Pages
    by Routledge

    204 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book provides a concise, yet comprehensive guide to effective work with bereaved parents, combining a broad overview of current research, theory, and practice with the authors' own extensive clinical experience. Transcripts of individual, couple, and group meetings illustrate the delicate subtleties of this work, giving the reader helpful insights into more effective clinical practice. The authors emphasize the importance of approaching each parent as a unique person, while also considering the socio-cultural context of the bereaved. This book helps clinicians approach work with bereaved parents with a less scripted format, suggesting an alternative role as expert companion to the bereaved, allowing for a more uplifting experience for both parties.

    Dedication. Preface. Acknowledgements. The Experience of Grieving Parents. Grief Perspectives, Models, and Myths. A General Framework for Intervention. Bereaved Parents and Their Families. Circumstances of the Loss. Spirituality and Religion. Issues for the Clinician. Resources for Bereaved Parents and their Expert Companions. Bibliography.

    Biography

    Richard G. Tedeschi is a Clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychology at UNC Charlotte. With Dr. Calhoun, he is the author of books and articles on post traumatic growth. He has been in clinical practice for 25 years, and is on the staff of KinderMourn, an agency that serves bereaved families in Charlotte.

    Lawrence G. Calhoun is a Clinical Psychologist and Professor of Psychology at UNC Charlotte. He has been a clinician for more than 30 years and his clinical work has been devoted to helping persons cope with anxiety, depression, and highly stressful events. His research has been focused on the responses of persons to trauma and other major life crises.

    "I was particularly struck by the authors' balance between acknowledging what research can tell us whilst accepting the individual differences which might be encountered in practice...They recommend a stance which they call 'expert companionship' which blends human compassion with a degree of expertise that may not be available from friends and relatives: 'expertise is woven into your interactions, rather than revealed through knowledge'." - David Trickey, Chartered Clinical Psychologist in BereavementCare, Vol. 25, No.1.