Containing families' grief: therapeutic group work in a hospice setting

Kate Kirk1, Mick McManus

  • 1Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Isle of Man.

This article explores the literature relating to the needs of bereaved children and families and describes the course of a family bereavement group run in a hospice. The interventions involved dramatherapy and other creative arts media. The group comprised of four families all of whom had had a parent die in the hospice. Their ages ranged from 6-46 years. Two one-day workshops were followed by six closed-group evening sessions. The aims and interventions for each session are outlined and a short commentary on the process given. Significant aspects of containing families' grief through the use of therapeutic group work is highlighted.

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