Introduction to thinking about loss, death and dying

Over the next few steps, we will think about how we understand the processes of loss and bereavement, and how these processes have been written and talked about by experts in the field.

First we introduce a concept that may be familiar but is often misunderstood: the Stages of Grief model.

Next there is a reading about Assumptive Worlds – those aspects of our lives and experience that form a stable background to everything, and which are disrupted when we suffer serious loss.

Then you will read about the idea of continuing bonds after death. This idea challenges and develops the belief that there are clear stages of grief at the end of which we have ‘closure’ or resolution.

Finally, we introduce you to the idea of hard conversations, a new way of thinking about how we can approach dying and planning for death. It moves beyond the idea that we should try and live as long as possible at all costs to our quality of life, and stresses the importance of being able making decisions and choices at the end of life.

Don’t worry about taking all of these new concepts in at once, we’ll revisit them in the coming weeks.