I love your ideas about groups. I am a new Bereavement coordinator am always looking for ideas. How often do you offer the Moving Forward group and your Tools for Life group?
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Danielle Proch-Vonbartheld
MA, Bereavement Coordinator
Heritage Hospice, LLC
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-28-2015 10:58
From: Chelsea Johnson
Subject: Innovative approaches to bereavement care
Hi Daniel!
We have tried many innovative approaches in our program over the years, resulting in hits and misses. We offer a group called "Visual Journaling," based on the work of Barbara Ganim (her book is also titled Visual Journaling), and we've found it to be very successful, particularly with grievers who are "stuck" emotionally. We do not currently have an Art Therapist on staff to facilitate this group, so we do not advertise it as an art therapy group.
I had a counselor in our department at one time who specialized in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and created an 8-week closed support group based on that model. It was a popular group and always well attended. Unfortunately when she left our organization, we had to discontinue that group because it does take a specialized training to facilitate.
We have also piloted groups for individuals further along in their grief, to help them develop their "new normal" as a widow or widower in particular. One of our groups, Tools for Life, focuses on a different modality or approach each week (could be meditation one week, Bach Flower Essences, music therapy, etc.) to teach them about different ways they can express their grief and cope on a day to day basis. Another, called "Moving Forward," is designed to be the last group experience before bereavement support ends. It offers some practical information about how to reinvest in life and helps the participants develop goals for themselves.
I am looking forward to hearing what others are doing as well!
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Chelsea Johnson, MS, MT-BC, LMT
Bereavement Manager
TrustBridge Health
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2015 16:31
From: Daniel Speis
Subject: Innovative approaches to bereavement care
This message has been cross posted to the following eGroups: Spiritual Caregiver and Bereavement Professional .
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Many of our programs routinely use similar kinds of approaches to providing bereavement care based on the needs of our clients: literature, supportive phone calls and referrals, support groups and workshops, and supportive and educational counseling. Some hospices even provide treatment for complicated grief through a variety of therapeutic approaches.
I'm curious if anyone has been experimenting with using other innovative approaches as a routine service and what your results have been? For example, these approaches might be employing the skills of a specially trained expressive therapist (eg: music, art, dance, drama), use of complimentary and alternative practitioners (eg: energy workers, acupuncture, massage), or perhaps you are using specific therapeutic modalities (eg: Emotional freedom technique, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Rubenfeld Synergy, the Hakomi Method, etc).
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Daniel Speis, MSW, LICSW
Coordinator of Grief Support & Spiritual Care Services
Hospice of the Panhandle
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