Bereavement Professional

  • 1.  Individual Greif Counseling

    Posted 04-20-2022 03:45 PM
    Hi all,

    For those of you who provide individual grief counseling by licensed staff, do you have a limit  or guidelines around the number of sessions provided to your hospice clients and/or community clients or do you allow the clients to see a counselor for as long as they like?

    Thank you


  • 2.  RE: Individual Greif Counseling

    Posted 04-20-2022 03:57 PM
    Kathleen,

    This is a great discussion question - I imagine you will received lots of varied responses!

    My organization does not have a formal policy limiting the number of sessions provided for hospice or community clients. Each clinician uses their clinical judgment to formulate a treatment plan that is specific for that client. I typically check in with our clinicians if the client has been seen greater than a year (or around 50 sessions) to understand the need for continued care. We have just a handful of these at any given time and they typically have experienced a more traumatic loss, death of a child, a death perceived as sudden, etc. If at some point in treatment the counselor notes that a high percentage of sessions start pertaining to another concern rather than being centered on the loss, they will make a referral to an outside provider for longer term counseling specific to the presenting complaint.

    Have a great day!
    Ali

    ------------------------------
    Ali Drescher, MA, LPC, FT, GC-C
    Senior Director, Mission Based Services
    1721 Patterson Street | Nashville, TN 37203
    w: 615-346-8406 | m: 615-483-3860 | adrescher@alivehospice.org | AliveHospice.org
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Individual Greif Counseling

    Posted 04-20-2022 04:01 PM

    Thank you!  Do you charge community clients for individual sessions?  If so, what is your fee scale?

     




    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Individual Greif Counseling

    Posted 04-20-2022 04:11 PM
      |   view attached
    We do use a siding scale for community clients. It is based on self-reported household income and no verification is required. If the payment amount according to the scale is not comfortable for them, we will offer additional fee reduction. If they receive Disability, LIHEAP, SNAP/Food Stamps, SSI, TANF, WIC, and provide documentation, their fee will be waived 100%. Additionally, we received a large donation in 2020 which allows us to provide 6 free sessions of grief counseling to anyone in the community who has experienced a death due to COVID-19. 

    We try to meet everyone where they are and provide services regardless of their ability to pay.

    ------------------------------
    Ali Drescher, MA, LPC, FT, GC-C
    Senior Director, Mission Based Services
    1721 Patterson Street | Nashville, TN 37203
    w: 615-346-8406 | m: 615-483-3860 | adrescher@alivehospice.org | AliveHospice.org
    ------------------------------

    Attachment(s)

    pdf
    Sliding Scale 2022.pdf   84 KB 1 version
    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Individual Greif Counseling

    Posted 04-25-2022 12:45 PM
    Ali,
    Thank you for this info--it's very helpful.  Do you have a screening tool or application that your clients fill out to determine where they fall on the fee scale?  If you do and would not mind sharing, I would appreciate you sharing.

    Kathy
    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Individual Greif Counseling

    Posted 04-21-2022 09:17 AM
    The support we provide to hospice as well as community bereaved is focused on education and support rather than ongoing sessoins or therapy. All our counselors have a master's degree and strong clinical experience however we limit the individual support we provide to just a few sessions. If they need more than that we work with them to find a therapist in the community.  This has worked well for us, as it has enabled us to provide a wide variety of loss specific support groups and support series. It is so rewarding to see how helpful our groups are for the bereaved. All of them have  volunteer co-facilitators we have trained who have experienced the same loss as the group members.  Our groups, rather than our individual support sessions, I'd say are the 'cornerstone' of what we provide.  Many of the bereaved have found it so helpful that, eventually they return, take our training and become volunteer co-facilitators.
          I'd be interested if others have been challenged, as we have, with people a great distance away 'finding us' via google and wanting to attend our virtual sessions and groups. We have found that much more manageable now that we only support those who are in our service area, because the community so generously supports our hospice and our bereavement program.

    ------------------------------
    Patti Anewalt, Director
    Pathways Center for Grief & Loss
    Hospice & Community Care
    Mount Joy, PA
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Individual Greif Counseling

    Posted 04-22-2022 09:28 AM

    We do the same process as Patti's  Hospice.  We limit all individual supports to no more than 4 sessions

    to prevent  "attachment" of persons to us. We also  do not allow for persons to repeat our closed 6 sessions grief support groups

    to also  prevent that on going unhealthy "attachment" that is so natural in grief support.

     

    Barbara Ingram M.Div.  D. Min.  BCC, LMFT

    Bereavement Coordinator and Counselor

    WellStar Community Hospice

    470.245.9959 Office

    470.245.9997 Fax

    475 Dickson Ave. NW

    Marietta GA 30064

     




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  • 8.  RE: Individual Greif Counseling

    Posted 04-22-2022 07:59 PM

    Our program also has a similar scope of service and model in that we provide limited 1-on-1 services (up to 8 meetings/sessions). We also do not have bereaved repeat our closed, curriculum based group. Similarly we help set the tone and understanding for the purpose and duration of our drop in groups, and assist attendees to make timely transitions to closing out of those drop-in groups in an individualized manner utilizing the clinical assessment and skills of the LCSWs facilitating.  When bereaved present to us seeking long-term counseling, or support for issues outside of their grief, we refer them to appropriate community resources.

     

     

    Joelle Osterhaus, MSW, LCSW, LICSW, ACHP-SW (she/her)
    KPNW Hospice & Palliative Care Psychosocial Services Manager

    NHPCO Bereavement Professionals Community Steering Committee, Chair

    "Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it." - Helen Keller

    Kaiser Permanente Northwest
    Continuing Care Services 2701 NW Vaughn St., Ste. 140, Portland, OR 97210-5344

    Cell Phone: (503) 312-0819
    Main Office: (503) 499-5200

    Fax: (503) 499-5535

    Bereavement Program Sharepoint Site: https://sp-cloud.kp.org/sites/teams-nwreg-NWAmbulatoryCare/CCS/Hospice/SitePages/BS.aspx

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  • 9.  RE: Individual Greif Counseling

    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous
    Posted 04-25-2022 10:09 AM
    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

    I offer unlimited telephone counseling to our bereaved clients for the 13 months...but, I quickly taper the frequency down from once every two weeks to once a month.

    I also strongly encourage many of our clients to join one of our bereavement groups and/or to seek a private psychotherapist that they can meet with on a weekly basis.

    Because we're short staffed, my at-home in-person visits are very limited.
    Original Message


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