Barbara Dane

CHILD WELFARE WORKERS: AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH FOR INTERACTING WITH SECONDARY TRAUMA

Although child welfare workers (CWW) are assigned a critical role to protect children, little focus has been placed on helping them cope with stress and secondary trauma that can occur when they observe and hear the affect-laden experiences described by clients. This article summarizes two focus groups which provided data to develop a two day training module for CWW to gain knowledge and skills through didactic and experiential learning. The model offers coping strategies to respond to job stress and vicarious traumatization. Benefits and implications for agency and school collaboration are discussed.

An Experiential Model

Abstract This article examines the effects of a pilot project for an experiential instructional model in teaching culturally sensitive, empathic communication skills. It attempts to integrate and communicate the theoretical, conceptual, and experiential understanding of cross-cultural empathy through the practice of mindful attitudes. Students were introduced to materials through a series of exercises which included mirroring breathing observation, posture, and moving awareness. These exercises fostered a state of openness through the experience of emptying, contemplation, and being-present. The preliminary findings indicate that the students were able to verbalize new learning experiences which included: being more attuned withtheirbodilyawareness, sensing theflow of energy with the other, letting go of power struggles, and pre-existing ideas, and experiencing a different kind of human connectedness with the other.

Anticipatory Mourning of Middle-Aged Parents of Adult Children with AIDS

There is little literature concerning the response of middle-aged parents to the dying of an adult child from complications due to AIDS. The author proposes a conceptual framework of anticipatory mourning for counseling these parents. Intervention strategies are discussed.

AIDS and Social Work: Curricula Development in an Epidemic.

Abstract The need for skilled social workers in the AIDS epidemic cannot be ignored. New graduates and current social work students need to understand complex biopsychosocial, ethical and political issues in order to provide effective, timely and appropriate services to persons with AIDS and their significant others. This article describes a framework for developing comprehensive, versatile curricula which adequately prepare students to confront the unprecedented challenges created by this epidemic.

Thai Women: Meditation as a Way to Cope with AIDS

Mental-health professionals often ignore the spirituality and religious beliefs that can aid a persons ability to cope with a life-threatening illness such as HIV/AIDS. As the physical body succumbs to the disease, people with HIV/AIDS search for ways to lower their stress, regain control of their health, attain some peace of mind, and hope to prolong their survival. This sense of personal control is important when dealing with chronic or terminal illness. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of meditation in Thai Buddhist women who are infected with HIV/AIDS. Interviews were conducted with 26 Thai women living in the northern part of Thailand known as Chiang Mai, where the incidence of AIDS is the highest in Southeast Asia. Although the scope of this study is limited and not generalizable, it supports the idea that a spiritual approach to healing, in conjunction with conventional medical treatment, is a source of great comfort to persons living with HIV/AIDS and may influence immune functioning.

Counselling bereaved middle aged children: Parental suicide survivors

Suicide has spawned many books and journal articles, but the literature is sparse in discussing the grief process of middle aged sons and daughters resolving reactions to parental suicide. A developmental framework is organized into three distinct phases with interventive strategies. Each phase specifies some of the unique predicaments middle aged children may encounter in adapting to parental loss.