A COMPLICATED GRIEF INTERVENTION PROGRAMME (CGIP) FOR SOCIAL WORKERS

Grief is a well-described concept in the literature, but complicated grief only recently became the concern of professionals working in this field. The necessity for a complicated grief intervention programme became evident after a fruitless search to find South African literature and interventions on the topic. This article describes the Complicated Grief Intervention Programme (CGIP) with the Complicated Grief Intervention Model (CGIM) as framework for intervention. The focus is on intervention techniques such as desensitisation, visualisation, use of the client-log, miracle questions, metaphors, rituals and humour. The CGIP is a time-limited intervention programme and consists mainly of interventions implemented during the three steps of the CGIM namely, assessment, implementation and evaluation/termination. Although the CGIP has not been widely tested, it holds the potential to serve as a guideline for social workers and other professionals working in the field of grief and bereavement.