Bereavement Group- Complex

When someone dies at the workplace there are added complexities. There are likely to be witnesses, employee attempts to help, visible shock and reactions, first responders on the scene, media and commentary. The organization has been disrupted and it may be on a large scale. While many organizations have protocols in place for workplace accidents, the human drama is left mostly in the hands of the EAP.  Organizations should first consider getting out a communication- facts, on what has happened, assuring that the appropriate response is underway and resources will be made available.  The next communication may be announcing the onsite services that will be made available. Employers often will consult with the counselors on the wording of this. Complex events may require multiple interventions in addition to a bereavement group.  Depending on the nature of the death and those variables cited above, the intervention may be better suited by a traditional debriefing if traumatic stress reactions were indicated in the initial call. 

During your intake process it is important to gather the facts in a sequential order. Many callers will ask for a bereavement group because their was a death,  but flushing out the event may lead you to a different approach.  First, listen for how employees responded or reacted. If they were engaged in life saving efforts, or fleeing from a dangerous scene where the death occurred, these are fight or flight responses and a debriefing would be the appropriate intervention for those individuals. Others hearing about it may be more suitable in a bereavement format. They shouldn't be mixed for convenience sake, but kept homogenous. You are the expert and should help shape the intervention.

Your bereavement group will focus on the shock phase. Most participants are not psychologically available to look at the other stages.  This is what makes the availability of attending the funeral so important. It will serve as a catalyst to move them into the next stages of grief.

There will be many variables of the loss that contribute to shock. 

• The death occurring within your (employees) organization. Their zone or proximity of safeness has been encroached or violated.
• Employees may have just or recently communicated or seen the victim(s).
• First responders on the scene.
• Media may be involved, local news broadcast, all contribute to the surreal sense one can experience.
• Characteristics of the victim- age, their surviving family that may have been a part of the workplace culture, how they touched the organization.
• Depending on the nature of the death, it may bring an awareness of how this could have happened to them.

Complex events where a death occurred at the organization do not recovery quickly, but over time.  There is a lingering effect.  There will always be a scene where it happened. An office or cubicle where they sat. A role or job that they did and still has their imprint on it. A new hire will come. As you can see there is much that will come up in your hour long group.  Thankfully you do not have to have an answer to every issue, but the opportunity lies in validating these experiences and while it may seem overwhelming to grasp the complexity of the event it is because they are looking through the prism of shock. As the shock dissipates and they begin to move through the stages of grief, healing will continue.

Managers need education of this time factor and the normal process that occurs. Managers can be intolerant of having to "put up with this". They want things to "just get back to normal."  There is some expectation that, that is why you are there, so do your job and make it go away. If this sounds like denial, it is and normal. Some private discussion can go along way.