The Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Sequence: An Approach to Evidence-Based Practice in Bereavement Counseling

Abstract

Current theories of bereavement are available and complex and suggest that for the bereaved there is no single pathway through grief. This challenges ethically motivated bereavement counselors to integrate theory into evidence-based practice. The Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Sequence offers a way forward for evaluating the effectiveness of bereavement counseling. Parallels are drawn between grief as disrupted self-narrative and grief as the dissociated voices of unassimilated experience. This assimilation sequence is proposed as a means of tracking psychological change in bereaved clients.