. Jettowyne, (The Compassionate Friends, 2011, November 4), stated, “Friends don’t want to say your child’s name, because they think it will make you feel bad”. Being open and asking or commenting on the child is essential in the healing process and showing support.
Other important ways to comfort a friend is by acknowledging the child’s death. Crying with the parent(s). Being available for additional childcare or rides to the funeral home. It is also important to respect each parent’s grief process.
The American Cancer Society (2015) reports some key ways to assist a friend when they are grieving:
• Acknowledge the situation. Example: "I heard that your_____ died." Use the word "died" That will show that you are more open to talk about how the person really feels.
• Express your concern. Example: "I 'm sorry to hear that this happened to you."
• Be genuine in your communication and don 't hide your feelings. Example: "I’m not sure what to say, but I want you to know I care."
• Offer your support. Example: "Tell me what I can do for you."
• Ask how he or she feels, and don 't assume you know how the bereaved person feels on any given day.
Being a good listener and being there is very comforting to a person in grief. Giving reassurance and showing empathy are also key in helping a friend in need. This may be done by going on errands for them, offering to do housework, shopping or bringing over food dishes. In addition, it is important to remember that grieving parents may
For some individuals they simply need someone to listen and show empathy. They can make the bereavement journey without much intervention, they require patience and compassion but do not welcome interference in their grieving process.
Even though death is inevitable, it is quite clear that people can devise methods under which they can cope with the loss of their loved ones; for instance, their immediate relatives if not friends. Drawing practical guidelines from this book, one can constructively come up with communication strategies that may have encouragement to those who have lost their loved ones. This initiative encourages
People are important to their friends and family in different ways. Friends and family spend time together because they want to see each other and make everyone feel important. As soon as one loses somebody though, they wish that they had spent more time with that person. “I read them all, but you can’t be mad at me for not answering. It feels like homework, typing and staring at the stupid phone or computer.”
One of the main factors is age. A child is going to grieve a lot differently than a grown adult. Children tend to think that they caused certain events to happen. They might believe that their father or mother died because of something they may or may not have done. As a health care professional, is important to not only be honest with the people involved but also comfort them. A child needs to know that it was not their fault, but they also need to be aware that whoever passed away is not coming back. Another factor that effects the way people grieve is their relationship to the deceased. Personal beliefs also influence how people grieve. Knowing about the factors that might impact the way a person grieves is important so that a health care professional is able to help people through the bereavement
When working with a child, you must be able to let them now it is okay to talk openly about how they feel. They need to understand that their family member is gone. They need to know the reason why that person is gone, and it has a meaning
Losing a loved one can be very painful, emotional and overwhelming. The difficult part after losing a loved one is learning how to cope with the loss. In order for nurses to help individuals cope with a loss of a loved one it is important for them to understand the grief process. This paper will define and explain the bereavement role, disenfranchised grief, four tasks of mourning and how nurses can help bereaved individuals with these processes.
This course has taught me that it is difficult to say goodbye to the ones we love. The struggle to separate from the deceased occurs because we have a strong attachment with them. The grief response and expression for every individual is unique (Winokuer & Harris, 2012, p. 26). Thus, I cannot expect my clients to grieve in a similar manner. It is also important for a counsellor to identify what stage in the grief process the client is in. Although, there are many models of grief stages, they all follow similar midpoints. These midpoints are accepting the loss, dealing with the emotions surrounding the loss, creating a reason for the loss, finding a way to continue to live without the loved one, and creating an everlasting bond with the deceased.
“There is no greater gift you can give someone in grief than to ask them about their loved one and then really listen!” I read this quote once when I was small from the diary of quotable quotes collected by my grandfather. At that time, I was too young to understand what the words ‘really listen’ meant. But now in this process of training to become a counsellor, I am experiencing what it means to ‘really listen’ and how powerful it is!
This question has been posed by many philosophers, religious leaders and psychologists for centuries, yet has been a potent taboo in society even today. As the field of psychology is gaining ground and knowledge in how behaviors affect the way in which we interact with others, we are discovering new ways to approach and view the mental processes of a human and apply them to how a person grieves that loss. But while oft times those assumptions, hypothesis, and theories are made by adults for adults, the child is a more difficult subject in which to study since it has not achieved its mature mental
Use positive body language when speaking or listening, by sitting up straight and looking directly at the person whom you are talking to, this way they will feel value in your interaction.
Another method that goes along with memory work is speaking with the client to help him or her process what they have experienced and remember. As counselor, I would ask questions: what they remember about the deceased person, what their initial thoughts were, how did they find out about the death, what are some initial reactions to certain emotions, where was the client when the death occurred, questions that will get the client to start to think about their loss as well as where they are now mentally in the process (as stated in Neimeyer, 2012). For children, voicing these answers will help them process the death as well as show them it is okay to feel this way.
Most of the time they both are in a funeral home or a church and there will be, depending on your religion, a pastor or priest there to talk during the services. During these time the family of the deceased are being comforted by friends and relatives. The children depending on their age at this time are the ones morning the most because they have known this parent for their entire lives. Since children are the ones that mourn the most it is a duty of the widow or of their new legal guardians to help them through the grieving process, whether it be: hugging, talking, or getting professional help. They will be the ones with the most impact from the death because they are the youngest and will have to carry the long- term effects for the rest of their lives. The worst thing that we can do is neglect to help them at that time in their life they are looking for guidance from anyone, they need a way to cope with their feelings and want someone to comfort them. All of these issues presented: (comforting them, guiding them, talking to them, and even giving them ways to cope with it) can all be settled through spirituality and a close relationship with a religion. God can provide all those thing, you can talk to him when you don’t know what to do or unclear on how to feel. He can comfort you in ways that only he can, and he can guide you to the ways to cope with the
It does not have to be professional assistance, although this may be indicated in some circumstances. Peer support can be effective” (Kastenbaum, p. 367). When close friends and family members help each other, this can help the bereaved person to get through the situation faster. In a similar matter, bereavement counseling may be able to provide support during these very difficult times. Talking about the loss often allows the person to adjust to their new life with all its changes.
Increase Your Communication Skills: Learn how to communicate in different and better ways in order to get your message across.
So the most important factor of dealing with someone who lost someone is to be sensitive. You have to understand what they are going through and realize that only time can heal their broken heart. The healing process is very important when you lose a loved one because there is no set date and time that you will be ready to be okay. Different people have different ways of how they take this and the process of this , some people may need to take a vacation and other may just want to be alone for a few days. For me, talking about the happy memories helped me get over the pain. It’s okay if someone does not want to talk about it for a few days. That does not mean that they are hiding anything or not feeling remorse, it just means that they might handle it differently and they do not want everyone seeing them show their emotions