As a result of experiences with loss and grief, each of us develops our own unique style of dealing with these issues. Understanding your attitudes, values, assumptions, beliefs, reactions, and unfinished business (if any) is an important task of self-awareness. The goal of this assignment is to facilitate your reflection about how these issues present themselves and relate to your personal coping style as well as your interactions with others coping with loss and grief.
Part 1: Construct a time line which represents the loss events in your life (my mom passed away in April of 2024 a week before her birthday), including non-death related losses such as loss of dreams, loss of job, loss of home, etc. You can begin by making a list of items, starting with your earliest memory and working through to the current day. Some people prefer a line with bullet points along the way, while others will use a chart. You can decide the way you’d like to represent your time line.
Part 2: Using the information you’ve identified in your loss history graph, discuss the impact of these events upon the following:
- Your interest in issues of grief and loss as well as personal goals for this course;
- Your personal style of dealing with loss i.e. how has your upbringing, culture, religion, ethnicity influenced your coping style And how do you cope with issues of death and non-death loss in your life?
- Your comfort levels in dealing with different issues of grief, and different kinds of loss with others i.e. are there specific kinds of losses that you feel will be particularly challenging to work with?; do you have experience with specific groups of people or specific illness or events that have proven to be difficult in the past?; do you have any value-oriented or ethical conflicts with certain issues, people, events?
- Your thoughts on stages of grief and types of losses individuals and their families may experience.
