{"id":1423,"date":"2019-02-27T09:00:04","date_gmt":"2019-02-26T22:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/?p=1423"},"modified":"2019-03-12T16:24:04","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T05:24:04","slug":"what-is-bereavement-massage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/2019\/02\/27\/what-is-bereavement-massage\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Bereavement Massage?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Ronna Moore<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Loss is a universal human experience, with the accompanying grief the expected and natural outcome. Over time, most people will manage to negotiate the turbulent terrain of loss, grief and bereavement, and steadily find the means to adapt to living with their loss. However, access to a variety of supportive practices (not necessarily limited to counselling) throughout the intense experiences of grief and bereavement can be of significant value for most grieving people, including for the 7% at risk of developing complicated grief.1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That massage therapy, a conduit for relief and comfort through its skilled application of touch, could be a beneficial contributor in this setting is not really surprising. Approximately 1600002<\/sup> people die in Australia each year. It is therefore likely that many therapists in their day-to-day practice will encounter a client experiencing grief. Other significant loss, such as the end of a relationship or job, may also result in a client experiencing grief. For this occasional occurrence, the already established competencies and skills, particularly with regard to therapeutic relationships, will enable therapists to provide effective support. To listen, acknowledge and empathise with pain and suffering are the basic ingredients of a compassionate presence and, hopefully, this is a bedrock capability of all massage therapists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the situation is somewhat different when the actual target population for massage therapy is the grieving and the bereaved. As for all areas of specialist practice, additional knowledge and training equip therapists with more skilful means, in this case, to contribute to the current and future wellbeing of clients suffering loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Introducing Bereavement Massage<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

What is the clinical rationale for the inclusion of massage therapy in grief and bereavement support? What might such a specialisation look like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The example of Bereavement Massage in practice described here is drawn from the experiences of the massage therapy component of the bereavement support program delivered by Melbourne not-for-profit specialist palliative care service, Eastern Palliative Care (EPC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EPC has a 6 member team of Massage Therapists providing service to its palliative clients and their caregivers. Included in this model of service is access to bereavement massage therapy for bereaved carers for up to 13 months after the death of their loved one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Support for grieving and bereaved carers constitutes a standard requirement within palliative care services (Standard 6 of the National Palliative Care Standards<\/a>). In meeting these standards, and with a long established massage therapy service in place for its palliative clients (oncology massage), EPC extends this service to its caregiver population. The inclusion of massage therapy specifically, though, rests on an appreciation of the \u201cwhole person\u201d impact of grief and reflects the general biopsychosocial approach to care intrinsic to the organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two quotes below illustrate the clinical orientation of bereavement massage therapy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGrief is a physiological phenomenon.<\/em>\u201d Erich Lindemann<\/a>, psychiatrist \u2013 Symptomatology and Management of Acute Grief<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo ignore the somatic aspects of grief in favour of psychological ones is to incompletely address the needs of the griever.\u201d <\/a><\/em>Dr Therese A. Rando<\/a> Clinical Psychologist, Thanatologist, Traumatologist<\/em> \u2013 Grief, Dying and Death: Clinical Interventions for Caregivers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Effects of Grief<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Physical manifestations of grief may include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n