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Experiencing Grief Essay

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In an increasingly globalised world, it is important that social workers are aware of the multitude of loss that immigrants experience and how this impacts on their life and the lives of others. Grief is a complex emotional response that arises from experiences of loss (Kanel 2003). Loss can be multidimensional and 'accompanies most big changes in our lives' (Goldsworthy 2005, p. 176). Moving to another country involves multiple diverse changes, in which people experience a variety of loss (Lee 2010). This essay will demonstrate how critical and ecological perspectives would inform my practice, as a counsellor, when working with people who are experiencing grief associated with immigration. Immigrating is not a single event; rather it …show more content…

Although structural arrangements create oppression, it is personally experienced. Therefore, intervention involves immediately working with individuals while also working towards institutional and structural change (Moreau 1979). Another major tenet is the concept of power and its complex operation (Fook 2013). Critical theory moves away from modernist ideas that view power as a possessed commodity, and recognises that power works in many ways (Allan 2009; Payne 2005). This approach involves analysing how language and discourses maintain power, and looks at the use of power on micro and macro levels (Allan 2009). Critical theory recognises diversity and argues that individuals have multiple and changing identities (Payne 2005). This approach views knowledge as subjective, asserting that our reality is socially constructed (Fook 2013). Reality is not something objectively discovered; rather, people always, to some extent, create reality (Hansen 2006). Language is not neutral; it actively constructs meanings and is entirely dependent on context (Hansen 2006; Allan 2009). Therefore, discourses 'actively construct how we understand different phenomena or experiences' (Allan 2009, p. 33). This awareness allows us to move away from dichotomous thinking, and view reality as multiple and changing (Featherstone & Fawcett 1995). This approach acknowledges the

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