Exploring Death, Dying and the End of Life Client

Who is it aimed at

Trainee and Qualified counsellors and psychotherapists. 

Course Outline

In this workshop we will explore death, dying and working with the end of life client. This will include how working with the end of life client is different and what needs to be considered. A model for working with the end of life client and applying this to some fictitous case studies. The assisted dying bill and what this potentially means will be discussed.

This workshop may provoke some strong emotions. You are welcome to bring something which comforts and / or grounds you to the sessions.

Aims

• To discover the importance of talking about death and your feelings about this, to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves should this present in practice.

• To discover the considerations we need to account for when working with the end of life client and how this would impact your practice.

• To engage with a model for working with clients who are end of life, through the use of a fictitious case study, in order to apply in your own practice.

• To review the proposed assisted dying bill

Learning Outcomes

• Gaining a deeper understanding of your own responses, feelings and beliefs about death, dying and working with the end of life client.

• What you would need to consider and account for when working with the end of life client and how you might apply this in practice.

• A framework to use when working with the end of life client to apply to your own practice.

• Applying TA theory to working with the end of life client.

Course Structure

Welcome and introduction

Contract for the day

Aims of the workshop

We will explore the taboo nature of death, the language we use around death and dying and why this is important. How do we as therapists collude with the taboo?

Together we will look at what needs to be taken into consideration when working with the end of life client. 

For example -

• Contracting

• Treatment Planning

• Awareness of the illness and the medical model including health inequalities, advance directives and do not resuscitate wishes.

• Safeguarding

• Transference

• Power

We will explore Sharon’s model for working with the end of life client (published in the UKATA Transactional Analyst magazine) and apply this to two fictional case studies.

1. A new enquiry. We will follow the journey of therapist and client from initial enquiry following a life limiting illness diagnosis to the clients death.

2. We will follow the journey of therapist and client who have an existing relationship and the client receives a life limiting diagnosis during the work.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would allow terminally ill adults to request and be assisted to end their own life (subject to protections and safeguards).

As a group, we will review the proposed eligibility and process for this.  During this exploration we will explore our unconscious bias on dying.

Final thoughts and questions

Close.

This will be an experiential workshop with plenty of breakout rooms and discussion. It will be made clear at the start of the day to be aware of and monitor for any parallel processing - let’s break the taboo and keep talking, keep yourself moving and enlivened.

Facilitator

Sharon Baker – CTA -P 

Sharon has a private practice in the East Midlands and online. She has provided therapy to end of life clients in a hospice environment and in private practice. She is passionate about talking about death openly and runs regular online therapy groups for trainee and qualified therapists to explore their relationship with death.