[nehi]

I was just wondering if any of you in Hospice nursing practice Anticipatory Grief? I know our problem has been that we usually don't have our patients long enough. Also, do you have special programs or literature for children dealing with grief?

[aimeee]

I am not sure what you mean by "practice anticipatory grief". Certainly you are right that many patients are just not with us long enough for much meaningful grief work to be done beforehand. We don't really have a formal anticipatory grief program, but we do attempt to have the bereavement counselor make contact with the family well ahead of the death if possible so they aren't a stranger who comes in afterwards. This is especially so if we see that the family is having difficulty coping.

We don't have any special programs for children but this is an area that one of our bereavement counselors is very interested in and has been researching. I know she recently attended a workshop on this subject and I would be glad to ask her to share the references. Please email me if you would like me to do this.

[nehi]

I would be interested in any references on children. I recently wrote a booklet titled "A grown-ups guide to helping children through grief" , it has been very beneficial in our program. Copies are available for a minimal fee. If you're interested just email me.