Brief Interventions with Bereaved Children

About this Book

• Describes a variety of practical therapeutic approaches for supporting bereaved children and young people
• Contains contributions from experts in the field of support of bereaved children, young people and families
• Written in an accessible style and includes personal perspectives from the bereaved themselves

New to this edition

• New chapters on sociological perspectives, learning disability and working with very young children. Other chapters have been completely updated to reflect developments in the field

Recent years have seen increasing interest in the needs of children facing bereavement, and a corresponding increase in services to support them. This book addresses and explains the theoretical concepts and practical implications behind the idea of brief work with bereaved children and families. Flexible and accessible short term services delivered at the right time underpin the strengths of bereaved children, supporting their recovery rather than pathologising the grief process. In this way the book also speaks to the current interest in the concept of resilience and working with families' strengths and possibilities, rather than merely identifying their problems.

This second edition continues to be a unique book within the growing filed of childhood bereavement, and the new chapters added to this edition discuss managing situations with learning disability, supporting very young children and emotional literacy. The book also presents cases from the service user's perspective. It looks at different approaches to intervention, such as the importance of assessment and the value of groupwork, and also covers work with children and families before a death.

Brief interventions with bereaved children will appeal to practitioners, educators and service providers managing scarce resources. The editors have more than twenty-five years experience as practitioners within the field, as service providers and educators. The book features chapters from distinguished contributors with backgrounds in healthcare, education, social work and the police, alongside theoretical and practice-based chapters from workers in the field of bereavement care for children.

Readership: Those running and working in services supporting bereaved children and their families, child and adolescent mental health teams, social workers, psychologists, therapists, counsellors and school counsellors/teachers/education support workers.

Reviews

"What makes this a must-read is the consistent theme that bereavement is not a disease. Across the chapters, the non-pathologising, collaborative and purposeful stance informs an approach that can find rich application across the tiers of children's services. -
Journal of Advanced Nursing

"Reading this book brought back memories that I do not cherish from a long time ago, but my spirit was lightened reading about the enormous and continuing advances made in the management of bereaved children that have occurred since that time. One cannot but admire the inventiveness of some of the interventions described, and the enthusiasm is infectious. I thought the exploration of brief family interventions before bereavement was particularly interesting. Anyone who has anything to do with bereaved children should read this book. Strongly recommended."
- IAHPC Website

"I highly recommend this book as a core text in the field and one which all practitioners would benefit from reading."
- Palliative Medicine

Table of Contents

1. Alison Penny: Childhood bereavement:tThe context and need for services
2. Dr Liz Rolls: Theoretical perspectives: linking research and practice
3. Dr Jane Ribbens McCarthy: Bereavement, young people and social context
4. Dr Gillian Chowns: Swampy ground: brief interventions with families before bereavement
5. Julie Stokes: Family assessment
6. Patsy Way and Isobel Bremner: Therapeutic interventions
7. Frances Kraus, Patsy Way and the Candle Team: Groupwork
8. Di Stubbs: Shrinking the space between people: telephone and email support
9. Linda McEnhill: Loss for children with learning disability
10. Patsy Way: Co-creating memory: supporting very young children
11. Frances Kraus: The extended warranty
12. Louise Rowling: Loss and grief in schools: attending to people and place
13. Kate MacLeod: Seasons for growth: a practical approach to emotional literacy
14. Rosie Nicol-Harper: Working with volunteers to provide bereavement support to children
15. Peter Speck: Brief interventions in critical care environments
16. William Yule and Dr Patrick Smith: Working with traumatically bereaved children
17. Kari Dyregrov and Atle Dyregrov: Helping the family following suicide
18. Julie Ellison: Family liaison: when once has to be enough
19. Julia Manning and Emma Lupton: Personal narratives
20. Stewart Sinclair: Crossing the great barrier grief: a facilitated self-help group for parents and carers

Author Information

Edited by Barbara Monroe, Chief Executive, St Christopher's Hospice, London; and Honorary Professor, International Observatory on End of Life Care, Lancaster University, UK, and Frances Kraus, Candle Project Leader, St Christopher's Hospice, London, UK

Contributors:

Barbara Monroe, Chief Executive, St Christopher's Hospice, London , UKand Director of the Candle Project and Honorary Professor, International Observatory on End of Life Care, Lancaster University, UK
Alison Penny, Co-ordinator Childhood Bereavement Network
Dr Liz Rolls, Senior Research Associate, Lancaster University, UK; Honorary Research Fellow, University of Gloucestershire , UK and Chair, Bereavement Research Forum, UK
Dr Jane Ribbens McCarthy, Reader in Family Studies, Department of Social Policy, Faculty of Social Sciences, The Open University, UK
Dr Gillian Chowns, Visiting Fellow, Social Work Studies Division, University of Southampton, UK; and former Specialist Palliative Care Social Worker, East Berks Macmillan Palliative Care Team, UK
Julie Stokes, Founder and Clinical Director Lead, Winston's Wish, UK
Patsy Way, Candle Project Worker, St Christopher's Hospice, UK
Isobel Bremner, Candle Project Worker, St Christopher's Hospice, UK
Frances Kraus, Candle Project Leader, St Christopher's Hospice, UK
Di Stubbs, Project Manager, Family Services Team, Winstons Wish, UK
Linda McEnhill, Founder of The National Network for Palliative Care of People with Learning Disabilities, and Widening Access Manager, Help the Hospices, UK
Louise Rowling, Honorary Associate Professor, Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney, Australia
Kate MacLeod, National Co-ordinator for Seasons for Growth, Scotland, UK
Rosie Nicol-Harper, Director, SeeSaw (Grief Support for the Young in Oxfordshire), UK
Peter Speck, Rev Prebendary, Former healthcare chaplain and Visiting Fellow, Faculty of medicine, Southampton University, UK
William Yule, Emeritus Professor of Applied Child Psychology, King's College London Institute of Psychiatry, UK
Dr Patrick Smith, Lecturer, King's College London Institute of Psychiatry, UK
Kari Dyregrov, Researcher and Sociologist, Center for Crisis Psychology/Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Norway
Atle Dyregrov, Director and Clinical Psychologist, Centre for Crisis Psychology, Norway
Julie Ellison, Metropolitan Police Inspector and Candle Project Volunteer, UK
Julia Manning, Candle Project Worker, St Christopher's Hospice, UK
Emma Lupton, Senior Social Worker and member of the Candle Project Advisory Group, UK
Stewart Sinclair, Social Worker and member of Candle Project Advisory Group, UK