Social Worker Appointment For Grief
[ Tuesday January 3rd 2023 at 2:30 pm ]
I had my next social worker appointment. I am really pleased with today's appointment. When I was part of the 7 week grief support group it was too hard for me to do the homework by myself. With it being grief related it was too hard trying to ignore the pain in my legs and try to read the material and reflect upon it. I was maxing out what I could handle. The social worker is doing the homework with me. It is so much easier talking than doing this by myself.
I spent 4 hours preparing for today's appointment. I photocopied the material used with group so the social worker and I could sit facing each other. Then I put it into a binder and section dividers by week I purchased for this reason.
Then I went through with my yellow highlighter and pen to mark what I need the social worker to do with me. Essentially this became 3 categories:
- Taking turns reading the material together and stopping to talk between each point or paragraph.
- To have her read some poems and short pieces to me so I may just listen. I do much better listening than reading. Some of the poems use a cursive font. This is really hard for me to concentrate on. Then after reading talk about it.
- To do some exercises together. Then when a wave of grave hits me I have someone to help me. Again this is because it takes a lot of emotional fortitude to coexist with my chronic pain.
I spent about 4 hours going through all the material prior to today's appointment. It was properly miserable. The social worker really appreciated the effort I put in to do this. She especially appreciated the organization of this. When I ask someone for be help I am genuine about receiving it. I don't need every topic covered in the 7 weeks. Some skills I already have from my parents and grandma dying.
Today we did two pages. One was about myths of grief and having a good handle on what to expect. The other was a mourners bill of rights. We read the mourners bill of rights taking turns. It was helpful. I can't give you a good logical reason why. The upshot is that I know this will work.
She asked me if I followed through with signing up again for the 7 week group. I set this in motion the same day as my last social worker appointment. When I ask someone for help and it is reasonable I try. This caused there to be a meeting about me. They were surprised I asked this. But they were very understanding that it has to do with my chronic pain.
They want to give others a chance to take the 7 week group first. They don't have a date of the next group yet. They are aiming for me to take it again sometime between May and fall 2023. When my grandma died Christmas morning I contacted them again. The organization that runs the 7 week group has been very compassionate to me. They are going to list my aunt and grandma in the Memorial section of their quarterly newsletter.
Today the social worker also talked to me about my grandma dying when she asked me how Christmas was. This was helpful.
I know this will work. It is miserable but well worth it.