What are effective ways to provide feedback to clients dealing with grief?

When providing feedback to clients dealing with grief, it is essential to adopt a compassionate and empathetic approach. One effective way is to actively listen to their concerns and validate their emotions without judgment. By creating a safe space where they feel heard and understood, clients can freely express their thoughts and fears related to the grieving process. Moreover, it is crucial to offer practical suggestions for coping mechanisms that align with their individual needs. This might involve recommending support groups or therapy sessions where they can connect with others who are also experiencing grief.

Effective feedback for clients coping with grief involves compassion, active listening, and validation of their emotions. Offer a safe space for them to express their feelings without judgment. Encourage them to share their thoughts and memories of the deceased, fostering a sense of closure and acceptance. Provide resources for support groups or therapy if needed. Remember that grief is a unique journey for each individual, and the key is to be patient, understanding, and present in their healing process.

Grief is a deeply personal and non-linear experience, but acknowledging the common stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance can provide a framework for understanding your client's emotions. As an MI practitioner, it's essential to approach your client with empathy and respect for their unique grieving process. Tailor your feedback to where they are in their journey. For example, if they're in denial, you might gently explore their feelings and thoughts, creating a safe space for them to express their emotions.

💠💠“let go” and “move on” may no longer be helpful advice.You simply cannot put any dynamics or structure to grief, there is No healthy way of Expressing anger, that way a drop of frustration will always be left behind. Nor any explanation or validation will work, if you try you will fail. First identify whether the grief is cumulative or antisepatory.Just as there is no one correct way to grieve, there is no single approach to grief management that will work for everyone. Every strategy is highly dependent on the individual and that person’s unique experience.So take bit time n research to hit the right nodes with the person. Give space to grief and time to heal and simply encourage them to find connections as an antidote to grief.

The stages of grief are a helpful construct; however, they are not necessarily exclusive and may overlap and be experienced in a different order than is typical. It is essential to normalize the experience of your clients since they likely already feel out of sorts and untethered.

The OARS technique is a cornerstone of MI and can be particularly valuable when working with grieving clients. Open-ended questions can encourage them to share their feelings and experiences, affirmations can validate their strengths and resilience, reflections show your understanding and empathy, and summaries provide a cohesive overview of their thoughts and emotions. Using OARS ensures that your feedback aligns with MI's spirit of collaboration, autonomy, evocation, and compassion.

Express your sincerity by listening. If the experience they are having or the emotions they are feeling is not a first hand life experience, it’s impossible to be on the same page. Listening and making motions that you understand is the first step in gaining trust. Neuron awareness, how visual, emotional and mental energy run through the physical body when a person attempts to relief a traumatic moment is key to ensuring the individual does not repeat the same ‘story’ over and over again. The information, emotions, and mental anguish will circulate internally causing the same symptoms experienced during the life moment causing the trauma or distress. When there is a time for pause, close ended questions, are best.

In addition to creating a safe space, empathic listening, normalizing their experiences, suggesting they choose one way or several ways to memorialize their loss, et al., it is important to discuss the role of triggers . The five senses are quite evocative in triggering trauma in time space and sensation. Normalizing triggers through examples of collective grief is a sensational pathway toward understanding and managing grief. There is no timeline, it is as unique as the individual. Celebrating their Spiritual practice and faith provides a framework of healing.

Using OARS helps us to understand the individualized experience of the person and what this loss means to them. Asking open questions such, is one MI strategy that allows this exploration: - what does this mean to you? - how are you feeling now? - how did this impact your life?

In motivational interviewing it is very important to always start by an open ended question followed by a reflection. This type of questions help move the conversation forward, such as: ‘Walk me through your typical day’ ‘who are the most important people’s in your life today?’ ‘How do you wish your life would be different a year from now?’ Reflections should be used after open-ended questions to show that you are listening and to highlight strengths.

Feedback in MI isn't a one-way street; it's a collaborative process. Encourage your client to share their thoughts and feelings about the interaction. Ask them how they found your feedback and whether it resonates with their experiences. Use scaling questions to gauge their level of satisfaction or readiness for change. For example, you might ask, "On a scale from 1 to 10, how helpful did you find our conversation today?" Their responses can guide the direction of the conversation and empower them in their grieving process.

Grief is part of our living experience. It is all about how you view death and the loss of your loved ones. I find that how you look at the entire situation will affect how you grieve. It is much easier said than done though because the pain is intense. Always try to see the best in what is happening. Each loss will be different requiring a new lens to see things through. When I lost my brother to Suicide, It helped over time to stop obsessing over why and blaming everyone for what had happened and accept that he died from a disease which was depression. Once I changed my view, it helped with the acceptance piece which trickled into the other stages of grief we go through. Lastly, how you grieve, can't be compared to how others grieve.

One thing that I found that helped is to first let them get them to get out all their thoughts feelings emotions that they have bottled up I like to call this the vomiting stage it may suck but when you are done you feel better Second step go over all of their concerns from vomiting stage and help them go step by step on an action plan that will be in the best interest in their situation Last step don't try to fix it for them but give them all the tools and information along with emotional support that they need that way you're empowering them to empower themselves

Ask the clients about their own preferences and need. This gives you clarity to assess and revisit the goals and strategies. Maybe the approach you used does not resonate with the client.

Supervision is one of the most important elements of clinical growth, as it will help us seek objective and professional guidance. Instead of getting into the ego of knowing it all, a competent therapist would be open to sharing with other experts in the field and learn from their insights. As the end of the day, we are all human beings with our own subjective limitations and expectations, and only with openness and flexibility and the acceptance of not being right all the time, we would challenge ourselves and grow as therapists.

When dealing with the complex and sensitive nature of grief, seeking supervision from peers or mentors can be invaluable. Supervision offers a safe space for reflection, constructive feedback, skill enhancement, and ethical guidance. You can discuss challenging cases, explore ethical dilemmas, and refine your MI practice. Various methods, such as case discussions, role plays, or standardized tools like the MITI code, can be employed during supervision to ensure the quality and fidelity of your MI practice.

Feedback should be integrated into the collaborative action plan with your client. Together, identify their strengths, challenges, resources, and strategies for coping with grief and achieving their goals. Regularly review and adapt the action plan based on their progress and feedback. Celebrate their successes, address any barriers or setbacks, and ensure that they maintain a sense of autonomy and self-determination throughout their healing journey.

Usually companies who reject a candidate provide just a repetitive “one-line” justification/feedback of their application and interview. Instead of this practice, it would be really helpful if the companies could provide a feedback and also list some of the potential areas where this candidate could apply, or one of the positions where this candidate would be a good fit. This way, we can actually reject the candidate gracefully, and also create a positive image of ourselves wherein we would be the ones who helped the candidate identify the correct area/position/company where he could fit better and be more productive. This can only be done after identifying the true calibre and potential as well as true needs of the candidate.

After a few number of sessions, I invite the client to reflect with me on their progress and whether or not they feel that they are achieving their goals. I ask a series of questions including: - what has worked for you? - what did not work for you? - what do you like us to do differently?

Sharing stories or insights that don't fit into the previous sections can offer a more holistic perspective. Consider sharing anecdotes about successful MI interventions with grieving clients or reflecting on your personal growth as a practitioner. These additional considerations can enrich the narrative of providing feedback to clients dealing with grief and practicing MI effectively.

"The heart that listens is the heart that heals." I once worked with a client, Lisa who had lost her son and her grief was overwhelming. Instead of imposing solutions or offering immediate feedback, I simply listened, allowing her to express her emotions without judgment. The client felt heard and this laid the foundation for a therapeutic relationship based on trust and empathy. In the realm of MI, feedback is not about providing answers but guiding clients toward self-discovery and motivation for change. Encouraging them to reflect on their own values, strengths and aspirations amidst grief can be profoundly healing.

It is important not to turn the reflections into questions. The tone that we use should be neutral and steady. This helps express understanding rather than making the client feel like you are interrogating them or judging them.

Our energy, our drive or lack of, is important to remain aware. The human spirit relies on our daily balance to restore the vitality of our mental, emotional and physical strength. When ‘pausing’ is necessary, take the time! A momentary pause, a break from the work day, family challenges, or financial stress, take a ‘pause’ to re-establish your energy! Your spirit is counting on you!

Give your clients permission to rest and let them know that grief doesn't have a timeline. Many people get frustrated with themselves because they believe they should be "done" with grief after a certain amount of time. However, grief doesn't follow a schedule, and giving clients permission to grieve indefinitely allows them the space and freedom to stop judging themselves.