How do I talk to my grieving client? The “stuff” to know, and the words not to use

Jill A. Johnson-Young, MSW, LCSW

This presentation will bring the participants into the world of grieving clients and the experiences that have had before they reached your door. Grieving clients have some very specific needs, and some that they are unaware they are bringing to you. They have others that will never come up without your invitation- and they need you to have the knowledge base to meet those needs. Can you provide the environment and therapeutic approach to meet their needs?

·         Do you know what the dying process looks and sounds like?

·         Do you have the words to re-educate your client if they misunderstood what they experienced and saw?

·         Can you address the self-blame and guilt that comes with the death of a loved one by reframing it with a reality-based approach.

·         Are you fully aware of the words and phrases that no grief client ever wants to hear, especially in the safety of their therapist’s office?

·         Are you ready to really, really hold space?

Grieving clients are facing fear, guilt, anxiety, and sadness. They frequently put their grief needs behind those of the others grievers in their family, and their therapist is one of the few safe places they can find support when they are struggling. They have frequently heard they are supposed to be experiencing “stages” and that they are not doing their grief process they way they are supposed to.

This presentation will provide you with a description of the dying process, the most common experiences of grievers, the words to use and the ones to avoid, and will frame grief work as a solution-focused process, no stages, and not one that never ends. It will prepare you to meet your grief clients where they are, and to walk them through to their new life.

Objectives:

1. Participants will describe the dying process with appropriate language

2. Participants will identify the most 5 common emotions associate with grief

3. Participants will understand the impact of the words and phrases their grief clients have heard, and identify three ways to empower the client to answer them

4. Participants will be able to contrast the five stages of anticipatory grief for a dying person versus the experience for their grief client after a death, to create a treatment plan with their clients that has reasonable expectations that fit the grief experience.

Bio:

Jill Johnson-Young, LCSW, is the CEO and Clinical Director of Central Counseling Services in Riverside.  She is a certified Grief Recovery Facilitator, and specializes in grief and loss, dementia, trauma, and adoption issues. She has more than a decade of experience with hospice and trains therapists and social workers in areas that include correctly treating childhood trauma, grief and loss, and dementia care. She holds a BA from UC Riverside, and her MSW from the University of South Florida.  She speaks on the topics of grief and loss, dementia, and the needs of adoptive children on the local, state, and national level, and receives positive reviews that note her engagement with her audience, energy, and sense of humor while providing valuable information. Jill is the creator of Your Path Through Grief, which is a year-long, comprehensive grief support program, and the author of the soon to be published books “Don’t Grieve like that! How to grieve your way from a rebellious widow” and the children’s book “Someone is sick- how do I say goodbye?” She is a member of the Purple Cities coalition in Riverside and facilitates a dementia support group monthly.

MAP

Inland Empire Chapter of CAMFT is a CAMFT Approved CEU Provider Agency  Provider # 62278

CEU Hours: This course meets the qualifications for 2 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences

Certificates: Completion certificates will be awarded at the conclusion of the training and upon participant’s submission of his or her completed evaluation.

Refund Policy:  If a participant is unable to attend and notifies IE-CAMFT 24 hours in advance of the training, full reimbursement will be sent within ten (10) working days.

Grievance:  If any aspect of the training is not to the full satisfaction of any participant, please notify the coordinator, CEU committee chair, or another IE-CAMFT board member.  We hope to resolve any issue immediately on-site.  If not resolved, the full IE-CAMFT board will review and resolve the issue.

Presenter Non-Appearance Policy

In the unlikely event that a scheduled presenter does not appear for a scheduled event, the following steps will be used to remediate inconvenience to attendees:

An announcement will be made to inform everyone that CEU credits cannot be provided due to inability to meet CAMFT standards for advance notice, etc.

The meeting will be held.  Attendees will be encouraged to participate for the purpose of professional development.

If an attendee has paid for the seminar, s/he will receive either a full refund or credit for a future presentation.

If the topic will be repeated at a later time, notice of the date and time will be provided to all interested parties.