By shedding light upon our own responses in the face of serious illness, dying, and death, we can bring them out of the darkness, understand them, and seek alternative ways to accept them, own them, cope with and, occasionally, change them.
It is with such a goal that this book is written. It aims to explore the experiences of care providers who care for seriously ill, dying or bereaved children, adolescents or adults, and to offer a framework within which their responses can be addressed, understood and transformed.
The book focuses on three main themes:
The "Caring Relationship" which adopts an interpersonal perspective by focusing on the relationship between the care provider and the dying or grieving person
The "Care Provider" and the adoption of an intrapsychic approach, which addresses personal responses to death
"The Team" which adopts a systemic perspective, focusing on the organizational context within which care services are offered