Bereavement: Counseling the Grieving Throughout the Life Cycle (Continuum Counseling Series)

Rating:
Summary: A Counselor's Best Friend
Review: Most of us who work in the caregiving professions received little training in our professional education for dealing with death and loss issues. For the most part, we got even less help in understanding the way clients' "stages of life" affected their bereavement.

Enter Crenshaw's book, one of the best "little" books around for people like us. In quick, practical fashion, Crenshaw provides the "quick and dirty" on grief, introducing the reader to how normal bereavement works.

Then, he proceeds to describe the major factors likely to affect a bereaved person's experience according to his/her place in the life cycle.

If the book has a shortfall, it is that it tries to do too much for too many. This is an excellent starting point for professionals for whom grief counseling is a part--though not a major part--of their responsibilities. As such, clergymen, nurses, hospice staff, family therapists, and social workers will find a wealth of useful information here. I would also recommend it for volunteers in hospices, nursing homes, communities of faith, and the like.

There are better books for people who need a "what do I do now" approach (such as Jeanne McIntee To Comfort and To Honor) or for parents who are wanting more detailed information about their children in grief (such as Helen Fitzgerald's The Grieving Child: A Parent's Guide). For its purpose, however, I think Crenshaw's book is pretty hard to beat.

Rating:
Summary: Good for counseling, but what about immediate needs?
Review: The book gives a lot of good information about dealing with bereavement. It does not, however, tell the reader exactly what needs to be done. There is a book out there that has all the information, i.e. what happens immediately after death for those who are left behind, what needs to be done right away, how to watch out for all sorts of scams, an entire big section for military veterans and their widows and so on. It leaves nothing to the imagination and widows/widowers do not have to guess WHAT DO I DO NOW?

Having been a caregiver many times , I know that people need to know what they must do right now. Ideally, everybody should pre-plan to make sure that his/her wishes are honored after he/she is gone, but when this wasn't done, the survivors should know what to do when it becomes a fact.

Counseling is wonderful, but sound advice with cookie cutter examples (because most people are frozen by grief) must be provided for those who simply can't function. After everything has been taken care of, then the grief can take over - and the counseling can start.