The required references for this week discuss death, dying, grief, and bereavement.
In your initial post to this discussion: (MINIMUM OF 300 WORDS)
1) Identify an issue associated with grief at one developmental stage: childhood,
adolescence, emerging adulthood, adulthood, or later adulthood.
2) Describe a scenario in which an individual is dealing with the issue you identified.
3) Explain how you would counsel the individual in the scenario you have described.
4) Provide one Internet resource to help an individual or family deal with death
Answer the above discussion, then reply to two classmates’ response by stating why you
agree and, then compare and contrast your respective choices and descriptions of grief-
related issues and your recommendations to the individual under examination.
Additionally, identify any insights you have gained as a result of reading the responses of
others.
CLASSMATE 1 RESPONSE (AM) MINIMUM OF 200
WORDS
Identify an issue associated with grief at one developmental stage: childhood, adolescence,
emerging adulthood, adulthood, or later adulthood.
Let's be clear we all will or have experienced death at one time in our life whether it be a loved
one, friend, coworker, celebrity, and pet, there is no avoiding death we all at some point will die
or grieve the death of someone close to us. One issue I will speak on is suicide and only because
I experienced it firsthand at the age of seven my mom who was battling depression took her own
life on her birthday and my granny found her in our home in her bed with a single gunshot
wound to her head, this is really a touchy topic but Ive found that the more I speak on it the more
I get clarity of why she would do such a thing at first being a kid I really didn't understand the
why's of what leads up to her death and this is something that I dealt with as a child not knowing
that it would affect my own life so much.
a. Describe a scenario in which an individual is dealing with the issue you
identified.
As I mentioned above the scenario that Im describing is about me and how my mom's suicide
had affected me as a child all the way to adulthood. At first, I didn't even know I was depressed
or had really bad anxiety until a doctors visit and he told me that I appeared to be depressed with
a lot of anxiety and I was doing what they call "Masking" which simply means you appear on the
outside to be expected but deep down you are battling something serious which didn't make
sense but then he asked about my mom and I immediately got emotional and he asked had I ever
talked to someone about her death and I stated no because when I was growing up we hardly
discussed mental problems we kinda shied away from things like that so Imagine me as a young
kid experiencing death so young and not understanding why had kept all this anger and
aggression inside for so long I had got good with masking it until late 2000 were I experienced a
mental breakdown that spiraled out of control and led me to seeing a therapist and getting meds
for my depression and anxiety
b. Explain how you would counsel the individual in the scenario you have
described.
If I had to counsel someone that has been affected by suicide my advice would be to try and
understand what that person would do because suicide not only takes a loved one away but it
leaves a lot of people broken and confused, Even if you are someone that is having suicidal
thoughts there are many helplines and organizations that could help you and my other advice is
we need to start checking up on our people that may be depressed or not feeling like they matter
we need to love on them and let them know we love them and are here for them I just wish
somebody would have given my mom this same advice
c. Provide one Internet resource to help an individual or family deal with
death.
Mental Health Crisis Services | Texas Health and Human …Links to an external site.
https://www.hhs.texas.gov/services/mental-health…Links to an external site.
Texas Suicide HotlinesLinks to an external site.
www.suicide.org/hotlines/texas-suicide-hotlines.html
CLASSMATE 2 RESPONSE (SH) MINIMUM OF 200
WORDS
Erikson supports his theory that in the first two years of the development of children, the primary focus is the conscious awareness of trust and the bond the child haves with the parent or caregiver (Erikson, 1982). These feelings have given the child the belief that the parent is good and will not harm them in any way. This is also the time when an infant has begun to start accepting others in their little world and express their feelings and cognitive functions while forming a combination of characteristics and being aware of the surroundings (Flemings, 2018).
When referring to the concept of life and death, it is obvious that babies and small children have not grasped the concept of death and dying. After the demise of that person, they realize that they aren’t around anymore leaving them wondering where could they be. Some children look for the individual for months and sometimes years until the memory fades away (Mossler, & Ziegler, 2016).
An example I will use is when my daughter passed her son was 2 almost 3 years of age, At the viewing, he spent all his time in the room with her playing with his cars on the floor by her casket. People were crying and he would say don’t cry my mommy is sleeping you will wake her up. According to the developmental stage, the age group of 2 to 3 children does not recognize the permanence of death. At this age, in a child’s life, they have imaginary friends and stare around often in a daze. My grandson’s imaginary friend was his mother or perhaps I shouldn’t say imaginary, her vivid memories became his comfort and care as he played with his toys and watched television. As stated earlier in my post that some children’s memories fade away after a certain time, my grandson never forgot the things he and his mom did especially on Wednesday they would bake barbeque chicken legs with jiffy cornbread and string beans. A cause he and I carried out this memory until he stopped eating meat years ago.
As Eugene’s caregiver, I had to be understanding and patient with him, because there is no right or wrong way to accept and deal with the loss of a loved one. I would constantly ask him if he was okay and his answer would be always yes ma’am. So, at this point, I followed his lead and let him explore his inner feelings, because ask we all know there is no quick fix involving death and grief. At times I felt like I did not have all the answers for him, but as it was, he had them for me without saying much just his presence of being there was all we both needed.
As far as Eugene and I did not attend an actual grief counseling facility, I was invited into this group with caregivers that were raising their toddler grandchildren or minor relatives due to the demise of their parents or parent. We did outings, and playdates, and gave the children to talk and reminisce and the adults also of what and how we were feeling that week.
The Comply Place Therapy for Children is located here in my hometown Macon, Georgia. This facility’s cause in action is to help children develop problem-solving skills, give them greater confidence and resilience, and also teach them the value of seeking help if needed. There isn’t a particular reason for the child to attend therapy, because they have a toolkit for different resources and reasons according to their needs.
References:
Fleming, S. (2018). Erikson’s psychosocial developmental stages. http://swppr.org/textbook/ erikson.pdf
Mossler, R. A., & Ziegler, M. (2016). Understanding Development: A Lifespan Perspective. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc
The Comfy Place https://thecomfyplacellc.com/contact-us/
