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Journal of Social Work Practice Psychotherapeutic Approaches in Health, Welfare and the Community

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Worden’s tasks of mourning through a social work lens

Sheila Yousuf-Abramson

To cite this article: Sheila Yousuf-Abramson (2021) Worden’s tasks of mourning through a social work lens, Journal of Social Work Practice, 35:4, 367-379, DOI: 10.1080/02650533.2020.1843146

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/02650533.2020.1843146

Published online: 17 Nov 2020.

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Worden’s tasks of mourning through a social work lens Sheila Yousuf-Abramson

Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA

ABSTRACT Loss is a universal experience. In social services, social workers or allied professionals may be working with clients who have experi- enced some type of loss and are going through the grieving pro- cess. Worden’s Four Tasks of Mourning have guided grief and loss work in the field of bereavement. This author’s direct service and practice experience as a clinical social worker supporting grieving individuals has further informed Worden’s task model through a social work lens. This paper will include a comprehensive over- view of Worden’s Tasks of Mourning through a social work perspec- tive, followed by a practical application of the social work informed model. Areas of practice discussed include: the eclectic integration of interventions within the tasks, grief as a lifelong process, estab- lishment of a new normal, and the multidimensional nature of emotions in the grief process.

KEYWORDS Bereavement; grief; tasks of Mourning; practice; social Work

Introduction

Loss is a universal experience. The most prevalent type of loss is loss through death. Death and dying are an integral part of the life cycle and are experienced throughout the life course directly and indirectly. Sometimes, deaths occur after a long illness, while others can be quite sudden and unexpected. Death is considered a normally occurring part of the life cycle, but for those grieving a loss, depending on the circumstances, this can feel far from normal. The process in which a person comes to terms with a loss is called bereavement (Worden, 2018). Grief is defined as ‘a person’s reaction to bereave- ment comprised of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours experienced after the loss that changes over time’ (Worden, 2018, p. 39). The experience of losing a loved one is highly unique. While death is universally experienced by all, the ways in which one experiences and grieves a loss may vary. Sometimes losses can impact a person to the extent that they do not feel equipped to deal with the loss independently or within their immediate support system. In these cases, bereavement support provided by a social worker or allied professional may be utilised.

As a social worker specialising in bereavement support, this author has come to understand the grief process and the impact that loss can have on the daily functioning of individuals. Popular grief theories and models have influenced the ways in which grief practitioners (including social workers and other allied professionals) work with those who are grieving. In particular, Worden’s Four Tasks of Mourning heavily influenced

CONTACT Sheila Yousuf-Abramson [email protected]

JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE 2021, VOL. 35, NO. 4, 367–379 https://doi.org/10.1080/02650533.2020.1843146

© 2020 GAPS

this author’s work with clients experiencing grief and loss. While the Four Tasks of Mourning provided a base and guide for practice, clinical experience further informed this approach through a social work lens and allowed for personal innovation and broadening of the application of Worden’s tasks along a life process continuum. The following paper will provide a critical overview of Worden’s Four Tasks of Mourning, a brief history of grief theories and interventions and a comprehensive discussion of the practical application of Worden’s task model through a social work lens.

J. William Worden, a psychologist by training, has been a leader in the field of grief and loss work since the 1970’s. In 2012, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in the Field of Thanatology from the Association for Death Education and Counselling. His works include three published books, Grief Counselling and Grief Therapy: A Handbook for the Mental Health Practitioner originally published in 1982 and on its fourth edition, Children & Grief: When a Parent Dies and PDA-Personal Death Awareness. In addition, he has contributed to several book chapters and wrote several scholarly articles focused in a variety of topics around death and dying including complicated grief (N. Hogan et al., 2005; N. S. Hogan et al., 2004), bereaved parents (Davies et al., 2004; J.W. Worden & Monahan, 2009), parent loss (Worden, 2001, 1999; Worden & Silverman, 1996, 1993), child and adolescent loss issues (Davies et al., 2002; Worden, 2008), anticipatory grief (Worden, 2000), and approaches to bereavement support including his task-centred approach (Worden, 1996; Worden & Winokuer, 2011). His works and contributions have been cited by numerous authors and he remains a leader in the field of grief and loss.

A history of grief theory

In order to fully understand Worden’s Four Tasks of Mourning, it is important to understand the history and evolution of grief theories over time. Theories around death and dying were heavily influenced by the historical contexts in which they were created. The following is a brief history of grief theories from its early days to the present.

The earliest grief theory can be traced back to early psychoanalysis. In 1917, Freud proposed that when a loved one dies, individuals would need to emotionally detach themselves (decathect) from and break emotional bonds with the deceased (Rothaupt & Becker, 2007; Stroebe et al., 1992). Freud saw the inability to detach as pathological. Freud’s theory aligned with the modernist approach where individuals needed to quickly and efficiently take action, recover from their losses and achieve independence from the deceased; severing ties or breaking bonds (Stroebe et al., 1992).

Next came stage models. In 1969, Kubler-Ross developed a linear stage model of mourning based off her clinical practice with dying patients (Rothaupt & Becker, 2007), and this model included 5 stages: denial, bargaining, anger, despair and acceptance. In 1980, Bowlby and Parkes developed the Phases of Mourning which was an alternative to a stage model allowing for overlap to exist within phases (Worden, 2018). The phases of mourning focused on recovering and reorganising representations of the deceased to allow for a return to everyday activities and reinvestment in relationships (Rothaupt & Becker, 2007). These phases included: numbness, yearning, disorganisation, despair and reorganisation.

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With the dawn of postmodernist schools of thoughts came critiques of Freud and stage/phase models. Grief theories up to this point pathologized the bereaved and forced them to conform to very rigid societal norms around grieving, when in reality, grief does not happen in a linear, orderly fashion (Worden, 2018). Postmodern thought recognised the potential of multiplicity (Stroebe et al., 1992) and acknowledged that loss experiences are unique and must be treated as such. Postmodern grief theories shifted focus by promoting expressive grief while highlighting the experiences of individuals as impacted by culture and context to assist in tailoring interventions to best meet the unique needs of grieving individuals (Walter & McCoyd, 2016). A social constructionist perspective on grief allowed for individuals to construct their own truths in telling the story of their loss (Walter & McCoyd, 2016). Additionally, there was increased value in fostering an ongoing relationship with the deceased, promoting strength and resilience (Berzoff, 2003) while also creating meaning for one’s self after a loss and through relationships with others (Neimeyer et al., 2014).

Examples of postmodern theories of grief (late 90’s to early 00’s) include Strobe and Schut’s Dual Process Model and Neimeyer’s Meaning-Making Model. In the Dual Process Model, there are two areas of focus; a loss orientation and restoration orientation where throughout the grief process, an individual oscillates between the two; at times dealing head on with the loss and at others finding ways to move forward (Stroebe & Schut, 1999). The Meaning-Making Model aligns with narrative therapy in that it stresses the importance of hearing and bearing witness to an individual’s story of loss, while assisting and supporting the client in creating meaning by highlighting key aspects and identifying blind spots from the individual’s story (Neimeyer & Thompson, 2014). The Dual Process Model and The Meaning- Making Model have been shown to have the most empirical support compared to previous stage models (Ober et al., 2012).

Worden’s four tasks of mourning

William J. Worden created a task-based approach to grief, entitled the Four Tasks of Mourning (see Figure 1). Worden’s approach to understanding grief through a task- centred approach would increase utility for clinicians, creating a more comprehensive understanding of the mourning process (Worden, 2018). Aligning with previous grief theories, Worden’s tasks highlight Freud’s concept of taking action steps to work through loss (Worden, 2018), but without pathologizing the client. Worden’s task model also suggests more flexible use of time within the tasks, where some tasks may take longer to complete than others. Similar to stage models, Worden’s tasks may be seen as

Figure 1. Worden’s four tasks of mourning.

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prescriptive as people move from one task to the next, but were less rigid in their descriptions. The tasks in this model tended to be more adaptive and flexible to the individual’s situation and provided hope to the bereaved through successful completion of the tasks (Worden, 2018). Informed by postmodern grief theories, Worden focused attention on multiplicity and the unique experiences of individuals experiencing loss while also allowing for variability in interventions that could be uniquely suited to the individual. Worden’s tasks viewed grief as a process with no definitive time frame as opposed to a state of being (Worden, 2018) supporting the unique, individualistic ways in which individual’s grieve.

The following discussion breaks down each task within Worden’s task model. Task I, accepting the reality of a loss, requires both an intellectual acceptance and an emotional one (Worden, 2018). In this task, an inability and or unwillingness to accept a loss can result in denial and maladaptive coping (Worden, 2018). For example, a widower intellectually acknowledges the loss of his spouse because he physically attended the funeral and burial. But when he wakes in the morning, he reaches over to the side of the bed anticipating that his spouse will be there, causing feelings of pain as discussed in Task II.

Task II is to process the pain of the grief. Worden (2018) acknowledges that the levels of pain experienced can vary but that feelings of pain are inevitable. The challenge in this task is dealing with the emotional pain amidst what others consider to be appropriate expressions of grief. This conflict could lead to suppressing the pain and could impact one’s ability to cope with a loss. The ultimate goal of the social worker or allied professional in this task is to validate and normalise the pain experienced. Other feelings associated with pain include sadness, guilt, depression and loneliness (Worden, 2018). For the widower described above, he may seek the support of family, friends or a grief therapist to assist him with processing these feelings.

Task III is to adjust to a world without the deceased. Worden identified three areas of adjustment for the bereaved which include the external, internal and spiritual (Worden, 2018). In the external area, the bereaved must adjust to a new environment. This is unique to the individual as a loss may impact roles and lead to the development of certain skills needed to move forward without the deceased. The internal area focuses on adjusting to one’s own sense of self and how loss shapes one’s self-definition, self- esteem and sense of self-efficacy (Worden, 2018). Additionally, in this task, one must work towards redefining the loss and making meaning for present life. The spiritual area of adjustment focuses on the ability to make sense of the loss along with implications on what life will look like and what life will be moving forward, sometimes with the support of a grief practitioner to access the story and assist the bereaved in reconstructing the bond with the deceased (Worden, 2018). For the widower, this adjustment may manifest in adjusting daily routines and responsibilities held by his spouse while also re-examining his own identity as a single man versus part of a dyad.

Finally, Task IV involves a way to remember the deceased while embarking on the rest of one’s journey through life. This task was formerly defined as withdrawing emotional energy from the deceased and reinvesting it in another relationship (Rothaupt & Becker, 2007; Worden, 2018). The former aligned with Freud’s concept of decathecting from the deceased (Worden, 2018). This change was most likely influenced by postmodernist thought and growing research on the reinforcement of a positive ongoing attachment to

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the deceased to support successful mourning (Rothaupt & Becker, 2007; Worden, 2018). This acknowledgement of an ongoing and evolving relationship with the deceased would include not only the loss but memories associated with the deceased. For the widower, this may mean taking a more active role in social activities and outings or time spent with others. The widower may also acknowledge that the loss of his wife does not mean that he needs to disconnect, but rather find a way to support her memory and legacy, possibly doing or living a life that she would have wanted for him.

Worden’s tasks through a social work lens: addressing limitations, highlighting strengths

While Worden’s tasks provide a thorough understanding of the mourning process and increased utility for social workers and grief practitioners to support individuals with interventions aimed at task completion, limitations exist. Like former stage models, both clients and individuals may view these tasks as rigid and could be disappointed when unable to move successfully from one task to the next. Also, practitioners with little grief support experience and/or training may hold a narrow view of bereavement and oper- ationalise the tasks as fixed and prescriptive, as opposed to utilising the tasks as flexible and adaptable to the unique experiences of their clients as intended by Worden (Worden, 2018). It is through a social work lens that one can begin to address the limitations of Worden’s Tasks of Mourning by acknowledging that grief is a lifelong process with no end. For the social work practitioner, understanding behaviour and development along a life’s course is important and central to the profession. Social workers are trained to understand that an individual’s history and experience is a part of their present life and continues to shape them through time. Additional discussion of the concept of time in relation to the life course will be addressed later in this paper.

Figure 1 provides a visual representation of Worden’s existing Four Tasks of Mourning and Figure 2 displays a proposed revisioning of Worden’s task model from a social work lens. Three major shifts are addressed in this model. They include the potential overlap and interconnected relationships among the tasks, acknowledgement of other emotions in addition to pain, and addressing the grief process through a life course. The proposed model shows the tasks as interconnected and overlapping, implying that one can move through the tasks at different times during one’s lifetime, and highlighting the potential for working through multiple tasks simultaneously. For the social worker, it is important to utilise strategies that are both comprehensive and flexible to meet the needs of clients. This model allows for the social work practitioner to start where the client is and assessing where the client falls in this model. Also, the concept of grief as ongoing and lifelong, supports the social work core value of human relationships (National Association of Social Workers, 2019). This concept of grief demonstrates the importance of an ongoing relationship with the deceased, in addition to relationships with others in support of or relation to the loss.

Using a social work lens, Task II also evolves beyond the pain of the loss, and includes all the feelings associated with the loss. The change accounts for the multidimensionality of emotions as related to grief and loss. Traditionally, in former grief theories, feelings associated with loss include sadness, guilt, depression, and loneliness. This new model will allow for additional feelings like relief, anger, betrayal, exhaustion and confusion in

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addition to positive emotions that may be associated with memories and meaning- making for the grieving individual. For social work practitioners, normalisation and validation of all feelings and emotions are central to working with clients. This multi- dimensional understanding of emotions will be addressed later in this paper.

These revisioned tasks occur across the lifespan and recognizes that there is no end to the grieving process. This does not mean that individuals experiencing loss will forever feel the pain of their loss. Rather, with time, the way one experiences grief and loss will also change and evolve with time. Revisiting tasks along one’s life course is normal and valid and allows for potential growth and healing throughout one’s lifetime. Take for example, Erikson’s Stage Theory. This theory focused greatly on identity development at different ages from early childhood to pre-adulthood (Berzoff et al., 2016). Identity development could also have implications on the grieving process where a child or adolescent who experienced a loss early in life may process, understand or make meaning of their grief and loss differently as they get older. This knowledge can support the grief practitioner in understanding the capacity of the individual to understand and process their loss based on their identity development.

While there is the possibility of identifying strengths in culture and diversity, some individuals’ expressions of loss can range in comparison to those of the identified culture (Groot-Alberts, 2012). This adds another layer of understanding needed by the clinician to comprehend an individual’s culture, including grief rituals and traditions, as well as understanding how grief expressions align or deviate from what is considered normal within that culture. This will also support the grief practitioner in expanding their practice experience through the appreciation of culture and diversity in grief practices, while gaining knowledge about alternative coping strategies to aid in positive and adaptive mourning (Stroebe et al., 1992).

Figure 2. The four tasks of mourning through a social work lens.

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It is important for social workers to understand ‘the nature of social diversity and oppression with respect to race, ethnicity, national origin, colour, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, political belief, religion, immigration status, and mental or physical ability’ (National Association of Social Workers, 2019). The identities and intersections of the identities above create a unique experience of grief and loss and must be understood in working with a client. For example, grief practi- tioners must be careful not to subscribe to gender stereotypes in presuming how one may cope with loss (Rothaupt & Becker, 2007). Additionally, one must also acknowledge how age or mental capacity can impact an individual’s understanding of loss and thus would impact the ways in which the grief practitioner would engage with the client. Using a social work lens in bereavement support creates a more inclusive, holistic approach to supporting grieving individuals. The NASW Code of Ethics guides this approach high- lighting the importance of human relationships, client dignity, self-worth and respect for diversity (National Association of Social Workers, 2019).

A social work application of the tasks of mourning in practice

For social workers, one must have competence in social work practice behaviours around providing emotional and spiritual support, while also being able to deliver these skills with fidelity (Gordon, 2013). This speaks to having a comprehensive understanding of an individual including their feelings, beliefs and values and knowing how to address these areas with competence and respect. Grief practitioners must be able to listen to clients (Gordon, 2013; Stroebe et al., 1992) and be receptive and open to alternatives in under- standing there is not one singular way to grieve (Stroebe et al., 2007). Social workers and grief practitioners must be empathic and mindful of their presence and approach to supporting clients during this vulnerable time. This requires patience and sometimes silence to allow for clients to process their feelings and to share openly. The uniqueness of the grief experience also requires that the practitioner be able to actively listen while also being open and flexible in their approaches to engage with and support their client. Additionally, it is important for practitioners to be aware of their verbal and non-verbal communication and their own personal experiences with grief and loss, as it could impact the work they do with clients.While these are core skills needed by the social worker and grief practitioner, one must also be effective in the application of grief interventions in practice. The following is a discussion of the practical application of the tasks of mourning, utilising a social work perspective. It will include an ecclectic integration of interventions within the identified tasks, the ongoing, lifelong process of grief and revisiting tasks, establishing a new normal, and the multidimensionality of emotions associated with grief and loss.

Integration of theoretical interventions within the tasks

The proposed task model from a social work lens allows for flexibility in choosing from a wealth of intervention options. Given the unique experiences and needs of grieving individuals, there is potential to integrate and utilise ecclectic approaches within the tasks, based on the clinician’s assessment of current challenges or presenting problems. The following discussion will explore some of these integrated interventions within the

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Tasks of Mourning which will include psychodynamic theories, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), General Systems Theory and Narrative Therapy.

In Task I, accepting the reality of the loss, one could use a psychodynamic approach. As identified earlier, individuals experiencing loss occasionally experience denial. In the psychodynamic approach, denial is a defence mechanism where one would block out or ignore a painful event or the implications of said event as the ego determines it as threatening (Berzoff et al., 2016). The concept of denial is an important concept for the grief practitioner to best understand the purpose that this defence mechanism serves. Another example using Erikson’s stage theory is the role of the stage of identity devel- opment vs. role confusion where the focus is on the development of personal identity along with group identification (Berzoff et al., 2016). Grieving adolescents at this stage often feel conflicted between being a child and being an adult. A practitioner working with an adolescent through Task I may find that an adolescent male is not accepting or acknowledging the loss of his father (i.e. denial), but has focused energy on assuming the role of the man of the house in an effort to avoid the reality of the loss of his father. This adolescent may be striving to maintain a life that is unchanged by the death of his father by taking on more adult roles.

In Task II, one does not eliminate pain (or associated feelings) completely, but rather the grieving individual can learn to identify their feelings and work to understand their origins utilising a psychodynamic approach. The practitioner may also consider employ- ing a more active approach like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. In CBT, the grief process is understood to include cognitive and behavioural changes with the most attention on emotions (Malkinson, 2001). The problem behaviours would be determined by the grieving individual. An example would be a daughter experiencing feelings of sadness and helplessness after the loss of her mother. These feelings impact the way she thinks about herself and she believes that she is not worthy of love. These thoughts, impacting her self-esteem, have led her to isolate herself from others. The key assumptions of CBT include the following: problem behaviours can change, cognitions shape behaviours and affecting change requires a systemic approach (Thomlison & Thomlison, 2011). Therefore, a practitioner would work with the client to identify how these feelings and cognitions influence one another while also impacting the ways in which a client behaves.. Changing how the client thinks when triggered by strong emotions and feelings will then impact the client’s behaviour. A CBT intervention that can be used here is cognitive restructuring. Through cognitive restructuring, the practitioner would work with the client to identify negative and/or irrational thoughts, replacing them in order to change the behaviour.

In Task III, adjusting to a world without the deceased, an ecological perspective can be especially useful. General Systems Theory (GST) looks at transactions between the individual and the environments at different levels, including the micro, meso and macro systems (Mattaini & Huffman-Gottschling, 2011). In grief, loss can impact an individual on multiple levels. For example, a child whose parent dies may find the family system impacted, resulting in changes to established family roles and daily routines. This is a micro level change. At this level, the grief practitioner would identify these changes and work with the child develop coping strategies to deal with changes and also adjust- ments to new roles. The child also goes to school which would be a meso level system. Ensuring proper support at this level is important for teachers and administrators.

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Additionally, the child may experience changes in peer relationships where he/she may feel isolated due to the loss. The grief practitioner may encourage the surviving parent to contact the school to notify them of the loss while also addressing how the family would want the school to respond (i.e. announcements to school community versus the child’s class). At the class level, there may also be opportunity for the school to engage with the child’s peers on how to best support a peer after a loss. On a macro level, the child’s household may experience financial and economic shifts when an income earning adult dies. The grief practitioner is again called to address these larger scale changes by assisting the child in developing coping strategies to deal with the impacts of the loss. Understanding the impact of a loss at various system levels allows for the social worker to prioritise challenges experienced and intervene at appropriate levels. Additionally, the Life Model approach specifically highlights stressors, assesses available resources and identifies diverse points of entry for intervention (Gitterman, 2011). What is especially useful in this model is the ability to assess and evaluate progress of the client through the alleviation of stressors and could determine successful task completion.

Task IV, finding a way to remember the deceased while embarking on the rest of one’s journey through life, can be supported using narrative therapy. While specific to Task IV, narrative therapy is an approach that can be utilised throughout all the tasks. In narrative therapy, individuals tell the story of their loss, allowing practitioners to reveal realities and uncover subjugated or forgotten details of the individual’s story (Kelley, 2011). In Task I, uncovering subjugated information can be part of the denial that some individuals may experience, preventing them from accepting the reality of the loss. In Task II, processing the pain of the grief, the client is the expert of their own story. Acknowledging that each individual experiences grief in a unique way is key to under- standing and assisting the client in discovering their own realities. In Task III, practi- tioners use the idea of ‘unique outcomes’ to reveal strengths not readily realised by the client (Kelley, 2011) to support adjusting to life without the deceased. In Task IV, the reconstruction stage of narrative therapy is especially important because this is where knowledge is expanded and views of reality are made broader for the client (Kelley, 2011). This is the stage where the client finds meaning and may recognise that despite losing the deceased, they carry them in their memories, in the legacy they have left or even in the ways the deceased had shaped their lives. This stage is about remembering the deceased and finding ways to incorporate them in one’s life moving forward.

Grief and time: a lifelong process and revisiting tasks

Worden’s Task of Mourning viewed grief as a process with no set time limits but also as a lifelong process where tasks may be revisited. For example, major life events and transitions may move an individual to revisit past tasks. Consider an individual graduat- ing from college who lost her mom when she was a teen. She may revisit Task I, accepting the reality of her loss. The fact that her mother will not be there to watch her graduate may create cause for her to revisit Task II, processing the feelings that graduating without her mom being there may elicit in her. Revisiting Task III, she would adjust to this new transition (world) without her mom, investing in the support of those around her. For example, she may seek out support from a mother-like figure to help fill some of the void left by her mother, perhaps a trusted aunt. Finally, in Task IV, she finds a way to

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remember her mother on her graduation day, recalling how her mother was the motivat- ing force for her and her academic accomplishments. One may infer that after a loss, there is a point where individuals stay in Task IV. This could be especially true if the loss was a loved one with which they had a strong relationship. When a loved one dies, one does not forget them. Instead, one would find ways to remember them. Grief is ongoing and lifelong. With time and support, the grief process can become a constructive experience in maintaining a positive, meaningful relationship to the deceased.

A new normal

Within the tasks of mourning using a social work lens, it is important to invest in a new normal. This can be a very difficult concept for clients to accept, especially immediately after the loss. As indicated by Task I, there may remain a desire for life to remain as it was before the person died or for life to go back to normal. Through the guidance of this model and the acknowledgement of grief being unique to the individual, a social worker can support their client in navigating the tasks and creating a new normal. This new normal involves all the tasks, but in particular, Task III. The client must adjust to a world without the deceased. An example of this would be a father of two children who lost his spouse. He must deal with the loss of his partner in addition to dealing with the transition from a two-parent to a single-parent household impacting caregiving, finances and roles, among other major transitions. A social worker would work with the father in identifying roles and responsibilities left vacant by the loss, including examining ways to fulfill the additional responsibilities and assist the father in processing these major changes. A social worker would also identify strengths of the family and social supports to be a part of this new normal. Task IV is also a vital task for this family in finding ways to remember the spouse and foster that bond as life moves forward. Creating a new normal will also have implications for the future as the family copes and adjusts to major events (like birthdays and anniversaries), creating new traditions or rituals to adjust to the world without the deceased.

The multidimensionality of emotions

The revised model also recognises the multidimensionality of emotions and feelings. It is important to expand feelings of pain to the wide array of emotions that may be experienced. The ways in which people grieve are unique and therefore so are their emotions. It is true that individuals experience painful feelings (sadness, anxiety, guilt, depression and loneliness), but they also have the ability to experience positive feelings associated with the deceased. An example of this may be through memories of the deceased that elicit love and happiness.

As a practitioner, the goal of bereavement support is to support clients through the grief process while decreasing negative grief reactions and maximising positive ones (Gordon, 2013). Therefore, grief is not just limited to the pain of the loss as indicated by Task II. Grief is more about experiencing that range of emotions from the very painful feelings to positive feelings of pride, hope and happiness that may occur as one finds ways to remember and incorporate the deceased into their lives. In a study by Gordon (2013), she found that both positive and negative grief can occur simultaneously and implies that

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there are opportunities for practitioners to understand and focus energy on the multi- dimensional nature of grief. In working with clients who have lost a loved one, it is important to identify and understand this duality of feelings by acknowledging both the pain of having someone taken away from them, coupled with the fact that no one can ever take away the memories and impact that person had on their lives. It is these memories that will keep the deceased forever in the hearts of those still living. Encouraging clients to share memories and identify and process feelings associated with these memories is essential to the grief process.

Conclusion

As a grief practitioner, it is important to acknowledge that loss and grief are universal experiences. Even for a practitioner outside of the realm of grief work, knowledge and understanding of grief is essential as everyone experiences loss in some way. Future application of this model could explore additional interventions and approaches that could be integrated within the tasks to support clients. Additionally, application to non- death losses would be of benefit to existing practice literature (i.e. losses due to major life transitions, and traumatic separations like incarceration, deportation and losses experi- enced in foster care).

Through a social work lens, additional aspects of grief are highlighted within Worden’s Tasks of Mourning. These aspects serve to reconcile limitations to Worden’s existing model, while also enhancing strengths of the model through a social work application in grief practice, highlighting the importance of human relationships, client dignity, self-worth and respect for diversity. Additionally, this model features an ecclectic integration of approaches within the tasks to support clients, an acknowledgement of grief as a lifelong process where tasks can be revisited, the establishment of a new normal after a loss and the multidimensionality of emotions as related to the grief process.

Social workers rely on theory and models to inform practice. It is equally important that we allow for our own practice experience and skills to inform those theories and models on which we base our work in order to strengthen our practice and improve our service to clients. Applying a social work perspective to Worden’s Tasks of Mourning works to further inform and improve bereavement practice, enhancing a social worker’s ability to provide and promote meaningful healing and growth for clients after a loss.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgements to Dr. Karen D'Angelo for challenging, supporting and encouraging me throughout the process of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

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Notes on contributor

Sheila Yousuf-Abramson is a doctoral student at Jane Addams College of Social Work at UIC. She is also the Director of Field Education and Assistant Clinical Professor at Dominican University in River Forest, IL. She is a licenced clinical social worker and has clinical experience in a variety of settings including bereavement therapy, mental health, child welfare, support services for indivi- duals with developmental disabilities, outreach and support to pregnant and parenting teens and women and programme development. Her career as a social worker included direct service and support of medically underserved populations and communities in Chicago and Lake County

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