A dual journey of grief: Considerations for grieving clinicians working with grieving clients

Grief is a multifaceted and subjective experience. Despite a considerable body of research on grief and loss, there exists a notable gap in understanding how clinicians navigate their own experiences of grief while attending to grieving clients. Therapists frequently prioritize the welfare of their clients over their own, often feeling an implicit expectation to effectively manage their grief. This can affect the therapeutic relationship and the client directly. It is important to identify this gap in research and address some of the barriers, internal and external, clinicians may face when experiencing grief. In an attempt to address some of these barriers, this project was created. Through conducting a thematic literature review focused on main themes around grief and loss and therapists’ experiences of it and utilizing content analysis to categorize and organize the information in the literature, seven considerations were developed. The seven considerations found in the booklet are: grief, grief theories and therapies: an overview, self-awareness and self-reflection, self-care, things can impact your practice, countertransference, readiness to return to work, and seeking supervision. Information pages and resources are also included. By creating these considerations, this project seeks to provide insights and support for clinicians facing the challenges of managing their own grief in therapeutic settings.