Loss History/Personal Awareness

Each of us develops our own unique style of coping with grief and loss. Understanding your attitudes, values, reactions and any remaining grief issues or unfinished business will be an important part of the work that you will do with students, clients, staff and community members experiencing grief. The goal of this assignment is for you to describe how your own experiences and style of dealing with loss may influence your interactions with clients. In the paper articulate the circumstances of the losses, the effect and impact of the losses on your life. Articulate any lessons learned from those experiences and how or to what extent you have recovered from those losses. You may also find it useful to look at the ways in which your family has responded to past losses and deaths. Some students begin by describing their earliest moments of death and how it affected them. Try to focus on personal and not theoretical understanding. Remember, losses may be tangible (loss of a loved one) or symbolic (a psychosocial loss: divorce, end of a relationship, loss of a job, home, health or independence, etc.) The paper should be 7-8 pages in length (excluding title and reference page). Listed below are some guiding questions that will help you organize the paper.

Circumstance of the loss

o A description of the loss

o The way you initially responded upon learning the news, e.g., initial reaction. Effect and impact of the loss on your life

o How the loss affected your ability to function

o The stages/phases/tasks of loss and grief you experienced o How the following have influenced your coping style

§ People around you
§ Your cultural background, ethnicity, religion § Your personal values, attitudes, and beliefs

(here you may include religion as religion- islam muslim, indian-ethnicity)

Lessons learned from the experience

o What major factors did you learn as a result of the loss?
o How/to what extent you have recovered from the loss(es)

Will the loss have any impact on how the student will counsel or provide services to others during their loss

o How do you think that personal loss experiences (or the absence of them) have influenced your comfort level in working with others who are dealing with issues of grief and loss?

o How might your own coping style influence the way you work with others?

Rubric: Total 30 points

1. Spelling, grammar, APA format (title page, abstract, reference page, double-spaced, one-inch margins, #12 font size, Times New Roman font, references and citations) = 10 possible points. Meets all criteria; 5 pts. Meets most of criteria; 0 pts. Does not meet criteria
2. Circumstance of the loss = 5 possible points
   Complete description of loss and way you initially responded – 5 pts.; No description – 0 pts.
3. Effect/impact of loss on your life = 5 possible points
   Complete effect and impact of loss (how it affected your ability to function, stages/phases/tasks of loss/grief experienced, how following influenced your coping style – people around you, your cultural background, ethnicity, religion, personal values, attitudes and beliefs) –5 pts.; partial effect/impact 4.5 down to 1 for minimal information; effect not addressed – 0
4. Lessons learned from the experience = 5 possible points. Complete listing of major factors learned and description of extent you have recovered from loss – 5 pts.; partial or minimal listing and description – 4.5 down to 1; no listing or description – 0
5. Impact loss may have on how student will counsel/provide services = 5 possible points. Complete description of how your loss will impact your counseling or services to clients with losses – 5 pts.; partial or minimal description of impact 4.5 down to 1; no description – 0

Required Text(s)

Jackson-Cherry, L. R., Erford, B. T. (2018). Crisis assessment, intervention, and prevention (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Publishers. ISBN: 978-0-13-294696-4.

Worden, J. W. (2018). Grief counseling and grief therapy: A handbook for the mental health practitioner (5th ed.) New York, NY: Springer Publishing Co. LLC. ISBN: 9780826101204.

References used should primarily be up to date from roughly the last 3-5 years, depending on the topic:

References should be clearly reliable and scholarly, such as books, chapters from books, and/or journal articles from peer-reviewed publishers. Internet sources should be respectable publications, such as www.apa.org/monitor, www.samsha.gov, NOT www.billybobshomepage.com (Wikipedia is not a proper source, and is not peer-reviewed. DO NOT USE IT!)

Do not use “secondary sources”

Please list a minimum of 3 references from the past 5 years and use the required textbooks stated above.