Meaning-oriented narrative reconstruction: navigating the complexities of bereaved families

Abstract

ABSTRACT While grief is often perceived as an individual phenomenon, the grievers’ family context before and after the death of a family member is always a stage set of their grief reactions. Operating from both meaning reconstruction and systemic perspectives, two case vignettes illustrate how the mourners’ grief and adaptation were not only shaped by who they were, by who they lost, and by how they lost the deceased, but also by their familial context. Hence, it is important for grief therapists to process clients’ grief with the family system as the holding frame, so as to tackle the stumbling blocks and discover the stepping stones, as they join clients to navigate family complexities in the aftermath of a member’s death.