Models of Grieving

The death of a loved one is a significant event experienced by everyone at some point in their lives. Thus, it is important for social workers to understand how grief affects surviving friends and family. Models of grieving establish the general stages or process through which an individual progresses; however, these stages do not necessarily occur in lockstep order. People who experience grief may do so in a different sequence or revisit earlier stages. Additionally, individuals social environments, including diversity and cultural factors, influence how they approach their own death or grieve the loss of others. Understanding the various ways people cope helps social workers anticipate their responses and assist them.

Grief work is challenging. Addressing the needs of grieving family members can diminish social workers emotional, mental, and physical resources. In addition to developing strategies to assist grieving individuals in crisis, then, you must develop strategies that support your own self-care.

In this Assignment, you apply a grieving model to work with families in a hospice environment, address how diversity affects grieving, and suggest strategies you can use for self-care.

• Review the Learning Resources on models of grieving, and select one model to use for this Assignment.
• Also review the Newell (2019) article on professional resilience and self-care.

Submit a 2- to 4-page paper in which you do the following:

• Explain how you would apply the grieving model you selected to social work with families in a hospice environment. Explain why you chose this grieving model versus others.
• Identify elements of the grieving model that might be difficult to apply to your social work practice. Explain why you anticipate these challenges.
• Analyze how diversity might impact the grieving process. How would this inform your application of the grieving model?
• Identify strategies you would use for your own self-care as a social worker providing grief counseling. Explain why these strategies might be effective.

Use the Learning Resources to support your application of the grieving model. Make sure to provide APA citations and a reference list.

Zastrow, C. H., Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hessenauer, S. L. (2019). Understanding human behavior and the social environment (11th ed.). Cengage Learning.

• Chapter 15, “Psychological Aspects of Later Adulthood” (pp. 672702)