Worden’s tasks of mourning through a social work lens

ABSTRACT

Loss is a universal experience. In social services, social workers or allied professionals may be working with clients who have experienced some type of loss and are going through the grieving process. 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 overview of Worden’s Tasks of Mourning through a social work perspective, 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, establishment of a new normal, and the multidimensional nature of emotions in the grief process.

KEYWORDS:

• Bereavement
• grief
• tasks of Mourning
• practice
• social Work

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.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sheila Yousuf-Abramson

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 individuals 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