Compassion-Based Approaches in Loss and Grief

Compassion-Based Approaches in Loss and Grief introduces clinicians to a wide array of strategies and frameworks for engaging clients throughout the loss experience, particularly when those experiences have a protracted course. In the book, clinicians and researchers from around the world and from a variety of fields explore ways to cultivate compassion and how to implement compassion-based clinical practices specifically designed to address loss, grief, and bereavement. Students, scholars, and mental health and healthcare professionals will come away from this important book with a deepened understanding of compassion-based approaches and strategies for enhancing distress tolerance, maintaining focus, and identifying the clinical interventions best suited to clients' needs.

Darcy L. Harris is a professor of thanatology at King's University College in London, Canada, where she also maintains a private clinical practice specializing in issues related to change, loss, and transition. Andy H. Y. Ho is an associate professor of psychology and medicine at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He is also the 2022-2023 president of the Association for Death Education and Counseling and a board director of the International Work Group on Death, Dying, and Bereavement.

Part One: Foundations 1. Coming to Compassion 2. An Evolutionary and Compassion-Based Approach to Yearning and Grief 3. Foundational Aspects of Grief 4. A review and synthesis of current research in compassion, loss, and grief 5. Compassion Viewed through a Sociological Lens 6. Spheres of Compassionate Engagement and Response Part Two: Training in the Components of Compassion 7. What is Compassion Training? 8. Mindful Awareness: A Cultivated Journey for Clinicians and Practitioners 9. Being with Grief and Loss: The Foundational Role of Therapeutic Presence 10. Common Humanity: Recognition of Interconnectivity among Health Professionals and Their Patients 11. Self-Compassion for Clinicians Part Three: Clinical Applications 12. Compassion-Focused Grief Therapy 13. The GRACE Model of Compassionate Response 14. Compassion Self-Care in Loss and Grief: Mindful-Compassion Art-based Therapy 15. Dignity and Compassion in End-of-Life Care 16. Shame in the Context of Grief 17. Understanding and Healing Hoarding as a Resistance to Grief 18. Compassion in Situations of Nonfinite Loss and Chronic Sorrow 19. Mindful and Self-Compassionate Embodied Grief Practices 20. Tales from the Field: Self-Compassion as a Resource for Supporting Grief 21. Compassion-Focused Imagery and Embodiment Practices 22. Compassion-Focused Chair Work for Grief Part Four: Organizational and Structural Approaches 23. Challenges to Compassion in Healthcare: A Systems Approach 24. Compassion in Organizations and Political Structures 25. Compassionate Cities for End-of-Life Care