Basic Communication Skills for Bereavement Counselling
A video programme and training guide demonstrating the first steps in learning to help those who have suffered a serious loss.
“Well-produced, well-organised and tightly scripted” – Colin Murray-Parkes, President of CRUSE Bereavement Care
“A clear, valuable, excellent resource for bereavement- and counselling-skills training. The feedback from students is constantly positive” – Judy Aitkens, bereavement counsellor
Good communication skills are essential for anyone who helps bereaved people, be they professional counsellors, other professionals with whom they may come into contact, or voluntary helpers. These skills are rarely, if ever, intuitive – like all skills they must be learned.
This video demonstrates some of the basic communication skills that are fundamental to good counselling practice. Based around a number of dramatised situations which typically arise in bereavement counselling, the video demonstrates the following skills:
- Listening, attending, empathy and body language
- Paraphrasing
- Reflecting feeling
- Integrating feeling and experience
- Clarifying
- Questions and probes
- Summarising
Although bereavement situations are used to demonstrate these skills, this film will be useful to anyone who wants to learn how to communicate effectively.
Each section focuses on a particular skill, with the presenter first explaining the idea behind the skill. A scenario showing an absence or bad application of the skill follows, and the scene is then repeated showing the proper use of the skill in good counselling practice.
The presenter, bereaved people, and some of the 'bad' counsellors are professional actors. The 'good' counsellors are real counsellors, demonstrating good styles of counselling that they use every day in real situations. The programme was filmed on location to show bereavement counselling in different settings, sometimes in those which are less than suitable – as in the real world.
The film is accompanied by a 54-page training guide giving some background to the video, and specific suggestions for the use of the film over a number of training sessions. The guide includes information on each skill, roleplays, exercises, and discussion ideas. A list of bereavement-counselling organisations is also included, together with a sample feedback form.
Produced by
David Cleverly, Manager of Academic Services at St George’s, University of London, and producer of award-winning films on related topics.
Dr Lyn Franchino, counselling psychologist, therapist and trainer, specialising in bereavement and counselling.
Philippa Weitz, independent trainer and counsellor specialising in bereavement counselling. 1995
Filmed and edited by St George’s Media Services
Running time: 26 minutes
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