Negotiating recovery in bereavement care practice in England: a qualitative study

Abstract

This paper explores how ‘recovery’ from grief is negotiated in bereavement care practice in England. What constitutes recovery from grief remains contested in bereavement research and practice. In this paper, I outline some of the debates in the literature concerning what constitutes recovery following bereavement before presenting interview data from bereavement counsellors and support workers to discover how practitioners negotiate recovery following bereavement in practice. The findings show mixed responses to the use of the term recovery. I highlight six components that emerged across the accounts and that the participants agreed were important to the success of bereavement counselling. However, rather than provide an empirical basis for recovery, the findings in this paper reveal the conflicts and ambiguities that exist in bereavement care practice.

Keywords:

• Bereavement counselling
• grief work
• recovery