This book is like all the best things in life: Common sense mixed with insight and experience. It is backed with the theories necessary for every academic subject that in my opinion, in bereavement work should be read, ingested and put to the back of our minds to be drawn upon when needed, but not at the expense of experience.
Dodie Graves has made Talking with bereaved people look an easy work, but that is because she has the expertise needed to make it look that way. She has used her wide knowledge of the field, experience of bereaved people, excellent listening skills and sensitivity, along with the intelligence to know how much of each ingredient needs to go into the mix.
This book is suitable for people working in the bereavement support field on a good many levels. For new volunteers it is accessible, easy to understand and the use of case studies and personal anecdotes brings it to life. On the other hand, qualified counsellors with experience of general work, perhaps in doctors' surgeries or counselling agencies, would find so much to help them understand what makes bereaved people think and behave as they do. It will also reassure those who are unused to the vast differences in reactions to grief that there are very few occasions when a bereaved person's emotional or physical behaviour can seriously be called unusual or complicated. Given time, patience and a good listener, most people have the inbuilt resilience to work their way through their grief. Dodie encourages this and shows how, with her help, we could all walk beside bereaved people on their journey.
