Bereavement Professional

  • 1.  What does your bereavement discussion look like in IDG?

    Posted 09-17-2021 02:57 PM
    Hello fellow bereavement professionals! We're wanting to make changes to how we "do bereavement" during our IDG meetings each week.  We'd like to make it the most meaningful and helpful possible while respecting the time constraints IDG brings.  We'd like to better honor the lives of those we've worked with, and also better support our team members who've put their souls into caring for them.  It doesn't sound like anything in particular is "required" during IDG by any governing bodies (that we're aware of).  So I thought I'd reach out to you to see what seems to work well for you beyond just reading the names of the deceased and the clinical circumstances surrounding the death.  Thank you for any thoughts you have, and for the work you do!

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    Lori Williams, MSW, LISW
    St. Luke's Hospice Duluth, Social Worker/Bereavement Coordinator
    Duluth, MN
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  • 2.  RE: What does your bereavement discussion look like in IDG?

    Posted 09-20-2021 10:30 AM
    Since we have held virtual IDG's we have been doing the following:
    I Begin IDG on video with instrumental harp music from YouTube, I read the names of the patients that have died since the last IDG. After each name is read, I pour colored sand in a bottle and reflections on the patient are offered by the Team until all names are completed. We end with about 10 seconds of instrumental harp music, I go off video,  and we shift onto the business of IDG.  It has been well received, meaningful for the Team and requested we continue this process. (Each week, the Team sees the color sand layers build in the bottle.)

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    Debbie Pausig, LMFT, CT
    Hospice Bereavement Coordinator
    VNA Community Healthcare & Hospice
    Guilford, CT 06437
    dpausig@vna-commh.org
    www.vnacommunityhospice.org
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: What does your bereavement discussion look like in IDG?

    Posted 09-21-2021 01:52 PM

    This sounds special, where in your IDT bereavement do team members discuss concerns for bereavement follow up?

    Thank you

    Barbara I

     

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

    Bereavement Coordinator and Counselor

    Wellstar Community Hospice

    470.245.9959

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  • 4.  RE: What does your bereavement discussion look like in IDG?

    Posted 09-22-2021 01:52 PM

    I open the IDG meeting w/bereavement/inspirational reading.  Then discuss bereavement concerns immediately.  We hold separate memorials at other times throughout the year to allow the staff to honor a patient they may have been close to at a different time, as we have a memorial garden in which to do so.

     

     

    Julie A Miller, MA, LPC

    Bereavement Coordinator

    Banner Hospice of Northern Colorado

    Please note our new address:

    5628 W 19th St., Suite 2,

    Greeley, CO 80634

     

    Direct 970.939.6481

    Main Office  970.352.8487 

     

    Hospice is all about living.

     

    Health care made easier. Life made better.

     

     

     

     

     

     




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  • 5.  RE: What does your bereavement discussion look like in IDG?

    Posted 09-22-2021 02:17 PM

    Jullie

    This is closer to what we do as well. Thank you

     

     

    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

     




    This email and any files transmitted with it may contain confidential and /or proprietary information in the possession of WellStar Health System, Inc. ("WellStar") and is intended only for the individual or entity to whom addressed. This email may contain information that is held to be privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any unauthorized access, dissemination, distribution or copying of any information from this email is strictly prohibited, and may subject you to criminal and/or civil liability. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender by reply email and then delete this email and its attachments from your computer. - Thank you.



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  • 6.  RE: What does your bereavement discussion look like in IDG?

    Posted 09-23-2021 12:32 PM
    Can you tell us more about your memorial, please?
    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: What does your bereavement discussion look like in IDG?

    Posted 09-20-2021 10:41 AM
    I'm a Bereavement Counselor, but I have a background as a Chaplain (Buddhist-Christian). I attend many different IDTs every week and one of them doesn't have a Chaplain in attendance and they like me to read out the list of patients that have recently died. Then we rest in silence for a minute or so while keeping a memory of the deceased patient(s) and their family in our minds and hearts.

    The experience can be as clinical, secular, theistic or non-theistic as the mind/heart of the team member resting in open silence. 

    We do this after clinically going through the deaths...but it can also be done before. I think anyone on the team (Nurse, SW, Counselor) can do this...you don't need to be an ordained priest. You can even take turns.

    Thanks,

    Matt Morse
    Bereavement Counselor
    Calvary Home Hospice
    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: What does your bereavement discussion look like in IDG?

    Posted 09-23-2021 06:34 AM
    Our IDG starts with inspiration and we immediately go to bereavement.  Concerns are discussed and followed by a ritual of creating a sandscape. A member that had worked directly with the pt chooses the color to represent the pt.
    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: What does your bereavement discussion look like in IDG?

    Posted 09-23-2021 02:42 PM
    Edited by Merrin Bethel 09-23-2021 02:42 PM
    I love the colored sand ritual that a few of you are mentioning! For our IDT, we begin with "Time of Remembrance" where the names of patients who passed in the last week are read, and whatever team members would like to say something about the patient may, then we move to the next patient, etc. We make it clear that this time is FOR the care team members to tell their story, what they loved and will miss about their patient, share funny anecdotes, decompress with the team, cry, and share any bereavement concerns they have for the patient's family, which I take note of. Sometimes it takes 5 minutes, sometimes it takes 20 minutes, but it's an important ritual I think. When staff are sharing, I also take note of their demeanor and coping and privately offer 1:1 support if appropriate. I also might get "referrals" from other staff, a clinical manager, colleague, etc letting me know that a staff member had a particularly close relationship with a patient and will likely need support. In this way, we take care of our staff and honor the memory of our patients before moving on with the clinical business of IDT.
    Original Message


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