Dr Leigh Donovan on Grief as a Human Encounter: Learning by Listening to Grieving Families – Ep 1

Grief as a Human Encounter: Learning by Listening to Grieving Families Dr. Leigh Donovan is a Thanatology Consultant and Pediatric Palliative Care Social Worker, who has walked alongside grieving families for more than twenty years. In this episode, Leigh shares some of the most valuable learnings to have emerged from decades of approaching grief as a human encounter rather than through a lens of clinicalising emotional distress. Leigh also reflects on the findings of her Churchill fellowship research into peer-led models of bereavement care, and work to establish peer-support programs in Australian hospital and hospice contexts. Finally, Leigh offers principles for emerging practitioners on sustaining long-term practice in palliative care and grief work; as well as learning how to tend to our needs as caregivers as we step into companioning the bereaved. 0:00 Acknowledgement and Introduction 3:12 Reflecting on a career in Social Work 8:28 Greatest learnings in Palliative Care Social Work 11:53 Differences between learning in theory and personal encounter with grief 19:41 Relational approaches to grief care 21:10 Peer support approaches to grief and bereavement care 25:09 Reflecting on experiences of Burnout 36:23 Teachers and Mentors Additional Resources 1) Collaboraide – Dr Leigh Donovan’s Webpage https://www.collaboraide.com/ 2) Dr Leigh’s Churchill fellowship – The Dr Dorothea Sandars and Irene Lee Churchill Fellowship to identify and develop guidelines for best practice paediatric hospital bereavement care services https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/fel... 3) Recommended article – A public health approach to bereavement support services in palliative care https://researchmgt.monash.edu/ws/por... 4) Recommended book – The five invitations by Frank Ostaseski https://fiveinvitations.com/ 5) Dr Alan Wolfelt – Center for Loss and Life Transition https://www.centerforloss.com/about-t...