The Bright Side of Bereavement Care: Putting Lessons from Research and Practice to Work in Your Program

Recent research on grief counseling - and on counseling in general - is beginning to provide some tentative answers to questions of great significance for bereavement care: is grief counseling effective? Who is most likely to benefit from bereavement counseling? Is counseling differentially effective for normally and severely bereaved persons? What factors contribute to the efficacy of our interventions? When should we intervene? What specific counseling theory and practices can provide a foundation for effective grief counseling? This workshop will address these questions and present the answers that contemporary research findings point toward. A key feature of the session will be an opportunity for participants to share ideas and practices that work well in their programs as we explore what is a very encouraging and empowering vision for contemporary bereavement care.