Loss and Social Work

144 Pages·2010·0.692 MB·English

by  Caroline Currer

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Loss and
Social Work
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Transforming Social Work Practice – titles in the series
Applied Psychology for Social Work ISBN: 978 1 84445 071 8
Collaborative Social Work Practice ISBN: 978 1 84445 014 5
Communication and Interpersonal Skills in
Social Work ISBN: 978 1 84445 019 0
Courtroom Skills for Social Workers ISBN: 978 1 84445 123 4
Effective Practice Learning in Social Work ISBN: 978 1 84445 015 2
Groupwork Practice in Social Work ISBN: 978 1 84445 086 2
Management and Organisations in Social Work ISBN: 978 1 84445 044 2
New Directions in Social Work ISBN: 978 1 84445 079 4
Practical Computer Skills for Social Work ISBN: 978 1 84445 060 2
Reflective Practice in Social Work ISBN: 978 1 84445 082 4
Service User and Carer Participation in Social Work ISBN: 978 1 84445 074 9
Sexuality and Social Work ISBN: 978 1 84445 085 5
Social Work and Human Development (second edition) ISBN: 978 1 84445 112 8
Social Work and Mental Health (second edition) ISBN: 978 1 84445 068 8
Social Work in Education and Children’s Services ISBN: 978 1 84445 045 9
Social Work Practice: Assessment, Planning,
Intervention and Review (second edition) ISBN: 978 1 84445 113 5
Social Work with Children and Families ISBN: 978 1 84445 018 3
Social Work with Children, Young People
and their Families in Scotland ISBN: 978 1 84445 031 2
Social Work with Drug and Substance Misusers ISBN: 978 1 84445 058 9
Social Work with Looked After Children ISBN: 978 1 84445 103 6
Social Work with Older People ISBN: 978 1 84445 017 6

Social Work with People with Learning
Difficulties ISBN: 978 1 84445 042 8
Sociology and Social Work ISBN: 978 1 84445 087 9
Thriving and Surviving in Social Work ISBN: 978 1 84445 080 0
Using the Law in Social Work (third edition) ISBN: 978 1 84445 114 2
Values and Ethics in Social Work Practice ISBN: 978 1 84445 067 1
What is Social Work? Context and Perspectives
(second edition) ISBN: 978 1 84445 051 0
Youth Justice and Social Work ISBN: 978 1 84445 066 4
To order, please contact our distributor: BEBC Distribution, Albion Close, Parkstone, Poole,
BH12 3LL. Telephone: [phone], email: [email protected]. You can also
find more information on each of these titles and our other learning resources at
www.learningmatters.co.uk
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Loss and
Social Work
CAROLINE CURRER

Series Editors: Jonathan Parker and Greta Bradley
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First published in 2007 by Learning Matters Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from Learning Matters.
© 2007 Caroline Currer
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13: 978 1 84445 088 6
The right of Caroline Currer to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted
by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Cover and text design by Code 5 Design Associates Ltd
Project management by Deer Park Productions
Typeset by Pantek Arts Ltd, Maidstone, Kent
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow
Learning Matters Ltd
33 Southernhay East
Exeter EX1 1NX
Tel: [phone]
[email protected]
www.learningmatters.co.uk
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction 1
1
Loss and grief in social work 5
2
Loss and grief in a social and cultural context 28
3
Experiencing loss: models and theories 50
4
Linking theory and practice 75
5
Effective social work in response to loss and grief 102
Co nclusion 119
References 121
Index 131
v
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Acknowledgements
This book owes its existence to the cohorts of social work students who have laughed,
cried and shared their experiences of loss with me; as well as to those people who have
supported me whilst writing, especially my husband Alan. My thanks also go to Carol
Holloway and Mary Pennock who have, at different times, co-led the ‘Loss and Social
Work’ module with me, bringing their own distinctive experience, insights and wisdom to
our work together. In particular, the use of the concept of ‘cradling’ in relation to
resilience (see Chapter 4) was suggested by Mary.

vii
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Introduction
Whether you are a student social worker, or have been qualified for many years, this book
has relevance for your practice. Loss is a key aspect of social work, and the grief that serv-
ice users and carers experience – sometimes even related to social work intervention –
cannot and should not be ignored by those working with them. Yet the subject is one that
is often not given the attention it merits within social work education and training
(Thompson, 2002a, Goldsworthy, 2005).
This book has been written for student social workers undertaking qualifying training at
undergraduate level. Yet I hope that it will also meet the needs of students on postgradu-
ate programmes as well as those undertaking post-qualifying training, and of social
workers who seek to update their knowledge and skills outside the framework of formal
courses. Theory and research relating to loss and grieving have changed and developed
greatly in recent years, to the extent that one leading writer (Walter, 1996) has described
this as a ‘revolution’ in the ways in which we understand loss and grief. By seeking to out-
line these developments, I hope that there will be plenty here of interest to those currently
in social work practice who qualified some years ago. Those considering a career in social
work, or who work alongside social workers, should also be able to apply the insights to
their own practice and experience.
Requirements for social work education
Social work was defined in 2001 by the International Association of Schools of Social Work
and International Federation of Social Workers as follows:

The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships
and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilising theories of
human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people
interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are
fundamental to social work. (Joint agreed definition, 27 June 2002, Copenhagen)
Theories of loss and grieving are amongst the theories of human behaviour that need to
be used by social workers. Change is – by this definition – at the heart of the social work
task, yet it is also, in a different sense, at the heart of the experience of many service users.
Loss involves change – it results from it and leads to it. Such change is frequently
unwanted, and the problems that service users face often involve wrestling with how to
make sense of, and live with, loss and change. Empowerment and liberation can lie in
finding positive ways to work with unwelcome changes, and it is often very humbling to
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Introduction
witness the courageous ways in which people do this. Whatever our area of practice,
social work involves standing alongside service users and being involved with them as they
engage in solving the problem of how to survive and go forward in the midst of loss and
change. This book explores the ways in which a knowledge of the processes involved in
grieving and responding to loss may be used to help those with whom we work who are
faced with such challenges.
Social work education in the UK has undergone a major transformation to ensure that
qualified social workers are educated to honours degree level and that they develop
knowledge, skills and values which are common and shared. We are now seeing the third
cohort of graduates from the initial degree level programmes. Registration of both quali-
fied and student social workers has given the social work profession a means by which
fitness to practise can be monitored – both in terms of meeting educational requirements,
and in relation to conduct. In common with others in the series, this book uses the
National Occupational Standards for social work and the Quality Assurance Agency’s
benchmark criteria for social work as a means to show how the content of each chapter
fits into the requirements for qualifying training. For student social workers, courses are
arranged in different ways, with modules covering different aspects of the curriculum.
Loss may be a theme running through several modules or course units or it may –
although this is less likely – be a course in its own right. Whatever the structure of the pro-
gramme, knowledge of loss and grief has a place within it.
The book’s structure
This book has five main chapters. The first emphasises that loss and change are aspects of
life experience for all of us, not just for service users, and looks at the implications that this
has for you as a social worker. It considers the importance of the topic in terms of both
policy and practice. You will be invited to identify both the losses that service users experi-
ence within a setting of interest to you (perhaps your placement or area of work) as well as
your own losses and the impact that they have had. We look at research into what service
users expect of social workers and find that these include the ability to engage in relation-
ships that involve the self – something that is only possible if you are able to be self-aware
and comfortable with using your own experience in ways that are appropriate. This chapter
introduces the terms that we will be using and identifies dimensions and themes that will
recur throughout the book. By the end of the chapter, you should have more knowledge
about issues of loss and change and their place in social work practice. As well as this, the
chapter will also help you to identify a number of questions. For example, is loss mainly a
cognitive or an emotional matter? What can we hope for following a major loss or crisis –
do we look to ‘recover’, to endure or perhaps to grow through an experience of loss? What
is the balance in working with those experiencing loss between focusing on the future and
on the past? These and other questions will be explored in further chapters.
The second chapter focuses upon social and cultural aspects of loss and grief. This coun-
teracts a tendency to see loss as a very individual experience, and the chapter argues that
this tendency is a feature of the ways in which society and culture define the focus of aca-
demic study, as well as everyday life. The social focus found in this chapter is important
2