Counselling strategies for bereaved people offered in primary care

Payne, S., Jarrett, N., Wiles, R. and Field, D. (2002) Counselling strategies for bereaved people offered in primary care. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 15 (2), 161-177. (doi:10.1080/09515070110115680).

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify strategies that general practice-based counsellors used when offering support to bereaved clients. Over the last decade, there has been a rapid growth in the provision of counselling services associated with British primary care services. A study was designed involving qualitative methods of data collection (semi-structured interviews) and analysis (a grounded theory approach). Counsellors were recruited from two cities in Southern Britain (Plymouth and Southampton). Twenty nine (76% response rate) counsellors agreed to participate (Southampton n = 15, Plymouth, n = 14). Semi-structured face-to-face audio-taped interviews elicited information about their perceptions of the appropriateness of general practitioner referrals, counselling strategies and models of bereavement. Analysis indicated that counsellors saw bereavement counselling within a broader agenda of work concerned with loss and relationship management. Many drew on eclectic approaches to bereavement counselling and specific strategies included: facilitating telling of the 'story' of the loss; engaging in active listening and valuing allowing people to talk; establishing a supportive relationship; and enabling the bereaved person to deal with unfinished business and to say 'goodbye'. Counsellors drew on implicit stage/phase models of grief that assumed levels of distress reduced over time. The value of these strategies requires more exploration.

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Contributors

Author: N. Jarrett

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