Bereavement, Loss and Learning Disabilities: A Guide for Professionals and Carers

✍ Scribed by Robin Grey

• Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 177
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Losing a loved one and coping with the subsequent adjustments that follow are a difficult fact of life, but people with learning disabilities face specific difficulties in processing and managing these changes. Adopting an integrative approach, this book acknowledges the importance of helping relationships in supporting this vulnerable group through periods of loss and bereavement. The author explains how to engage the person with a learning disability in talking therapy by creating an open dialogue. Common signs of stress, factors to consider in assessing risk and advice on how best to approach difficult subjects are presented. The role of supervision in counselling and issues surrounding terminal illness are also discussed, and practical solutions offered. Professionals working in the field of learning disabilities, such as counsellors, therapists, carers and health and social care students will find this informed guide beneficial in communicating and supporting people with learning disabilities.

✦ Table of Contents

Bereavement ,Loss and Learning Disabilities: A Guide for Professionals and Carers......Page 2
The purpose of this book......Page 8
Terminology......Page 10
Facts and figures......Page 11
Relevant UK legislation and policy......Page 12
Context of the work......Page 13
The focus of different practitioners......Page 14
Routine as safety......Page 15
Problems that may be faced......Page 16
Associated losses......Page 18
Collective grief......Page 21
Witnessing other people’s illness......Page 22
Conclusion......Page 23
Why the experience of bereavement might be different for someone with a learning disability......Page 24
Self-blame......Page 36
Not knowing when grieving ‘stops’ following bereavement......Page 37
Shock......Page 38
Bargaining......Page 39
Anxiety......Page 40
Guilt......Page 41
Depression......Page 42
Acceptance......Page 43
How we can help this process......Page 44
Introduction......Page 48
Background to risk......Page 49
Managing greater risks posed to the individual......Page 50
Relevance to bereavement and loss......Page 51
Depression......Page 52
Physical manifestations of grief......Page 54
Factors to consider when assessing for any therapeutic work......Page 56
History of attachments......Page 59
Factors to consider in grief work......Page 60
Unresolved grief......Page 63
Context of the work......Page 66
Practical considerations......Page 67
Blocks to understanding......Page 68
Building on previous understanding......Page 70
Autism and understanding of bereavement and loss......Page 71
Developing an understanding of illness......Page 73
Breaking news of sudden illness or death in residential settings......Page 74
Difficulty in locating the body......Page 76
Explaining change to people with learning disabilities......Page 77
Health education and awareness......Page 79
Specific illness......Page 80
Impact of a death within a shared supported house......Page 81
Avoiding euphemisms......Page 82
Thinking about funerals and attending funerals......Page 83
Finding it hard to move on from worry......Page 84
Growing older......Page 85
Types of referrals......Page 87
Establishing a good therapeutic relationship......Page 88
Contract......Page 89
Boundary setting......Page 90
Goal setting......Page 91
Tasks of counselling......Page 92
Endings......Page 93
Life cycle issues......Page 95
Loss of being parents......Page 97
Issues for older parents......Page 98
Preparing for the future......Page 101
Being honest about health needs......Page 102
Managing the effects of moving home......Page 103
Managing when parents become ill or hospitalized......Page 104
Dealing with structural change......Page 106
Knowing someone’s history......Page 107
Supporting a client who is facing a bereavement......Page 108
The role of carers......Page 110
Caring for someone with learning disabilities......Page 111
Long-term foster placements......Page 112
Supporting people in residential care facing loss and bereavement......Page 113
End of an adult fostering relationship......Page 115
Language and meaning......Page 116
Identifying non-verbal change......Page 117
Echolalia......Page 118
Makaton®......Page 119
Using Makaton to communicate emotions around loss and bereavement......Page 120
Talking Mats®......Page 121
Sight loss......Page 122
Creative therapies......Page 123
Dementia and learning disabilities......Page 124
Why supervision work in learning disabilities is essential......Page 127
Establishing the contract......Page 128
Functions of supervision......Page 129
Issues that often present in learning disabilities supervision......Page 131
Difficulties in obtaining appropriate supervision around bereavement and loss......Page 133
Working with trainees......Page 134
Supervising residential staff......Page 136
‘Death and loss’ for trainees......Page 137
Introduction......Page 139
Delays in diagnosis......Page 140
National Strategy for End of Life Care 2008......Page 141
The concept of death......Page 142
Knowledge of what a terminal illness is......Page 143
Maintaining identity......Page 144
Specific issues for adults with learning disabilities facing end of life illness......Page 145
Explaining a terminal diagnosis......Page 148
Health education......Page 149
Supporting people with learning disabilities who have terminally ill relatives and friends......Page 150
Introduction......Page 152
Functions of remembering......Page 153
Recognizing attachments......Page 154
Problems with remembering......Page 155
When remembering is not helpful......Page 157
Unwelcome reminding......Page 158
Continuity......Page 159
Problems with anniversaries......Page 160
Doubts about memory and relationships......Page 161
Unresolved grief appearing some time after a loss......Page 162
Voices, accents, smells and sounds......Page 164
Dementia......Page 165
Managing change......Page 166
When to end mourning and remembering......Page 167
REFERENCES......Page 169
USEFUL ORGANIZATIONS AND RESOURCES......Page 171
INDEX......Page 173