Clearing the Path: On Death, Loss, and Grief [Paperback]

Clearing the Pathis a collection of clinical stories that illustrate practical, applicable communication tools for professionals in work with end-of-life patients and families. These vignettes from practice demonstrate how impending death, death itself, and the loss of a relationship affect the lives and grief of both patients and survivors.Clearing the Pathis a collection of clinical stories that illustrate practical, applicable communication tools for professionals in work with end-of-life patients and families. These vignettes from practice demonstrate how impending death, death itself, and the loss of a relationship affect the lives and grief of both patients and survivors.Written 13 years after its companion volumeThe Weeping Willow, the book brings even more complex encounters and nuanced emotions from additional years of experience in the field. The stories are woven in with the counseling process, thought process, and dilemmas of the counselor. Each story is then followed by Notes to the Practitioner with clear, practical and professional advice on navigating various communication issues and end with Conclusions which are short summaries of each vignette's teachings. At the end of each chapter the reader will find recent, annotated references for those who wish to read more about the topic. Chapters provide new, in-depth tools for dealing with death, grief, and loss from both the griever and the counselor or medical professional's perspective. What is unique to this book is the insight into the authentic human emotions experienced by both counselors and clients in these encounters with dying and grieving, making it useful for both the caregivers and the recipients of end-of-life care.Acknowledging that communication is individual and dependent on all the involved parties, these stories were selected to demonstrate many ways of communication through a range of situations, as well as the various attitudes, harmful and helpful, relãî