Disenfranchised grief

Abstract

This is an teaching exercise to help students to understand the concept of “disenfranchised grief” originally coined by Doka in 1989. Learners will explore how grief which is incurred through loss can be unacknowledged and not recognised leading to disenfranchisement of self and others (Corr, 1999; Cesur-Soysal & Ari, 2022). The exercise hopes to promote person-centred values along with empathic and non-judgmental listening skills as well as develop learner’s self -awareness, helping them to see grief from their own and other people’s perspectives. Drawing on further work from Doka (1999 & 2017) social and cultural contexts of loss will be explored. We will then explore how we might enfranchise people’s grief by validating and acknowledging their experiences.