‘Sitting on the Mourning Bench’: Mental Health Workers and an Elderly Client

Abstract

The present article documents the experience of a first year social work student on fieldwork placement in an Aged Persons Mental Health Service. The student was part of a team providing service to a long-term client of the service when he was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. The student's compassionate response to the client raises questions about grief and professionalism, which she explored through a journal and in discussion with her supervisor and other team members working with the client. As part of their reflective practice, the student, her supervisor and the client's mental health workers formed a collective to document their experience and present a staff education session. This article is the outcome of these processes and explores important grief issues in Aged Psychiatry and demonstrates the valuable contribution made by a student to the work of the team in the rich learning environment of a fieldwork placement in aged psychiatry. It is published with the kind permission of the client's next of kin.

Keywords:

• Aged psychiatry
• Grief
• Social Work Student

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the helpful suggestions of Dr Olga Yastrubetskya and Ms Rosslyn Chandler in preparing the article for submission to Australian Social Work.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kate Elkhuizen

Kate Elkhuizen (BA, BSW) is a Social Worker at the Peninsula Health Mount Eliza Centre (Frankston, Victoria, Australia)

Rosemary C. Kelleher

Rosemary C. Kelleher (MSW, Cert Bereavement Counseling) is an Honorary Fellow at the Academic Unit for Psychiatry of Old Age, The University of Melbourne

Lina Gibson

Lina Gibson (BSW, GradDip Mental Health Science(Transcultural)) is a Case Manager at St George's Aged Psychiatry Service (SGAPS; Kew, Victoria, Australia)

Robyn Attoe

Robyn Attoe (RPN, GradDip Gerontology) is a Case Manager at SGAPS