Bereavement Professional

  • 1.  Counseling/Support

    Posted 01-07-2021 12:45 PM
    Hello.  Are there any Bereavement Coordinators out there that also do the bereavement counseling?  We use Well Sky and I find that for general supportive contact (phone calls, etc) that the program is fine for documentation.  However, when more support is needed and it crosses into counseling, how do you handle that with consent, treatment plan, and session documentation?  I am licensed in my state for counseling and I just feel that the EMR is not quite sufficient.  Thoughts?  Thank you in advance!


  • 2.  RE: Counseling/Support

    Posted 01-08-2021 09:45 AM
    Hi Michelle,

    I am also doing short-term bereavement counseling (I'm a resident LPC) and I'm running up against the same challenges. My role in our hospice, however, is to provide a free service to our community members and our hospice/hospital staff (not hospice patients/families)​. Our EMR is set up specifically for hospice families (tying the bereaved to a patient), and I'm trying to work around that because my clients aren't affiliated with our hospice. I've been at it here for almost 4 months and documentation is still something that I'm trying to work through (I'm trying to build a new program). I'd love to follow this thread and see what ideas/methods others share.



    ------------------------------
    Renee Beverlin, LPC-R
    Resident in Counseling
    Community Bereavement Coordinator
    Augusta Health, Hospice of the Shenandoah
    Fishersville, VA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Counseling/Support

    Posted 01-11-2021 10:44 AM

    I too use WellSky/Consolo... but I have the option in Administration where family is listed to mark someone as Community Grief Support.  Note I am not a licensed SW so I don't necessarily run into the issues you are currently speaking about.  But I can add someone from the Community-at-large into my work in WellSky/Consolo.  Not sure if that helped or hindered the confusion.  J 

     

    Peace.

    -- Andrew

     

    Andrew J. Vitale, CT

    Bereavement Coordinator/Spiritual Counselor

    Certified in Thanatology: Death, Dying and Bereavement

    Direct Line: 779.774.9820

    P: 815.398.0500 | F: 815.398.0588

    northernillinoishospice.org | facebook

    Email Signature2

     

    Our address: 4751 Harrison Avenue | Rockford IL | 61108

     




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  • 4.  RE: Counseling/Support

    Posted 01-11-2021 05:42 PM

    Hi All,

     

    Not to sound too stupid, but what do the initials EMR stand for? We use McKesson in our hospice and will be switching to Epic (a hospital-based program) in the coming year. I'm not thrilled with that.  All three of the grief counselors do provide counseling for St. Luke's clients and community members, only stipulation is that they have to be age 18 and older. We track our clients with narrative notes. I really think we are missing out on an opportunity to gather better metrics and data collection if we could use something else. We simply don't obtain the data we need to justify our need for additional staff and to measure our effectiveness.

     

    Jean Francis, M.Ed., C.T.

    Grief Counselor/Bereavement Coordinator

    St. Luke's Hospice

    240 Union Station Plaza

    Bethlehem, PA  18015

    Mobile: 484.225.9269

    Jean.Francis@sluhn.org

     




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  • 5.  RE: Counseling/Support

    Posted 01-11-2021 06:04 PM

    Jean-

    EMR is Electronic Medical Record ie any digital system for  medical records.

    I used Epic at a previous position briefly. You can create templates and check box forms so it may be feasible to create some kind of data collection system for specific metrics. It would be good to figure out what data you are wanting and then talk to the people in charge of implementation/design to see if it is possible to have these features or forms included for BV staff.

     

    Laura Lirette M.Ed, MSW, CSWA

    Bereavement Coordinator

    Mt Hood Hospice

    PO Box 1269

    Sandy, OR 97055

    Main number: 503-668-5545

    Fax: 503-668-7951

    llirette@mthoodhospice.org

     




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  • 6.  RE: Counseling/Support

    Posted 01-08-2021 12:20 PM
    Thankfully, our EMR (Suncoast) provides us with all of these features as soon as a family member is admitted to bereavement, including consent, plan of care in various levels based on assessment, and several choices for session documentation. What you might try is a simple google search for basic software aimed at counselors in private practice. I think there may even be some free options.

    ------------------------------
    Rev. Dr. Don Stouder
    Bereavement and Volunteer Coordinator
    Reliance Hospice
    Palm Desert, California
    dstouder@reliancehospice.net
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Counseling/Support

    Posted 01-11-2021 10:29 AM
    Hi all
    For non- hospice community bereaved, our practice is to do a thorough assessment, provide basic grief education and support and work with them to make an appropriate grief referral- either to bereavement support groups or to grief counseling, etc. We generally send a "bereavement packet" complete with our newsletters, grief booklets and any resources particular to that mourner. We hand write a note recording the visit with contact information, etc and keep it in a "community file" in a locked cabinet. Hope that helps. We generally do 1-3 phone sessions until they are referred.

    ------------------------------
    Robin Fiorelli LCSW
    Sr. Director of Bereavement and Volunteers
    VITAS
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Counseling/Support

    Posted 01-08-2021 01:49 PM

    I also use Well Sky. In the documents folder we created Bereavement Documents. This section is only accessed by myself and one other counselor. We file informed consents, counseling notes in this secure folder. On the Bereavement Care Plan and clinical notes section of the patient's chart, we only note date of counseling session. This way our contacts show up in the Bereavement Intervention report. Hope this helps, contact me if you need more information.

    Deborah

     

    Deborah Andrews, MSSW, LCSW, Bereavement Coordinator

    BSA Hospice of the Southwest

    5211 SW 9th Ave

    Amarillo, TX 79106

    806-350-1352

    www.hospicesouthwest.com

     

     



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  • 9.  RE: Counseling/Support

    Posted 01-08-2021 06:08 PM
    In our system (Suncoast) there is a bereavement assessment narrative that I can select and write up notes that are more detailed. There is also a POC option where I could create a tx plan (although that isn't something I need to do currently). I am not sure if Well sky has these features but it may be worth checking.
    Original Message


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