Grief Counseling: A Case Study

After seeking guidance from God as the practitioner of pastoral thanatology, the message given to the family and friends must be clear and precise for an effective outcome when counseling for grief and mourning. First, I will analyze Worden’s wording of the fourth of his tasks of mourning. Also, I will anticipate outcome and purpose for providing support, counseling, or therapy to the bereaved in their grief and mourning. Finally, I will answer the question the bereaved are likely to ask: “what is this (the processing of authentic grief through effective mourning) supposed to do for me? Or How is this supposed to help me?” “Those Mourners who make a good or effective adaptation to the loss has made a ‘resilience adaptation.’” Worden has four steps that is recommended for tasks of mourning to be effective in grievance. He recommends looking at the circumstance of the death while considering feelings of the mourner to be creative in helping them accept their loss and move into their new life. As the mourner is grieving, they will learn to accept that their love one has transition to Heaven while dealing with pain of grief. It takes time for the mourner to adjust coming home without their love one there. The mourner may advise that the decease is there in spirit daily with them; they advise that the decease may flicker the light or
“It is important to recognize that if individuals are open to receiving, managing and understanding, the emergent spiritual experiences early on in bereavement is it more predictive of improved functioning and growth.” “Being of greatest service to the bereaved means emphasizing our willingness to support them in the open and genuine expression of their reaction to having experienced a significant loss, even before any discussion of the potential for effective