Posts Tagged ‘loss’
When a young parent is dying, how do we help?
I frequently receive messages from other therapists and allied health professionals who are confronted with a grief moment they feel unprepared to handle. There really is no higher compliment than to be asked to step in from a distance to offer support as they support their client. Recently there was a request about a young…
< Read More >Support facing suicide
I am currently in Visalia, California, to attend and speak at the National Team Loss Conference. If you are not aware of the Team Loss concept, it is a postvention program for suicide prevention and support for survivors. I am surrounded by people from all over the country who are doing the work to help…
< Read More >You Can’t Still Smell The Flowers
I’m preparing a short talk about dementia for therapists next month and went looking for some graphics. I almost choked when I read one sweet looking thing about what dementia caregivers need to know about dementia. The first thoughts were reasonable: Don’t argue with someone who has dementia Be patient Watch your frustration level Then…
< Read More >Easter and Passover in Grief
My role in this program is not to assume you have a certain belief system, or even that you have any belief system. However, there are some days on the religious calendar that are unavoidable and whose messages can make grief more of a challenge. Easter is one of those. Passover as well. In the…
< Read More >When your client is facing a chosen death
I have had contact with a number of people online who have faced a loved one with terminal illness and chose to end their life before their illness ended it for them. Some are aware it is coming, others have already experienced the loss. How do you help your client in moments such as that?…
< Read More >Grieving lost sexual intimacy
My recent research has been about grieving sexuality during a terminal illness and after the death of an intimate partner. There is very little published data about this, and the data that does exist suggests that neither hospice staff nor grief therapists, or even friends, consider this something to be discussed. The sad part, for…
< Read More >Being the therapist on the first anniversary of violent tragedies
Next week will be a difficult anniversary day for many people in my community. We are one county away from Las Vegas, and it is considered almost our backyard. Holiday weekends the passes are jammed as folks from our area head that way, and folks from Vegas come the opposite direction. On the weekend of…
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