Suppose that you're the counselor who will be working with the family described in the attached case study.

Discuss the stage each member of the family is at. Discuss how you may be able to help the individual family members and the family as a whole. Describe how each family member's grief reaction is different.

CASE:

Son: Your father has just died after a year-long struggle with cancer. It is only a few weeks before you are to enter college as a freshman, and you are feeling anxious about leaving home for the first time and have experienced panic several times. You feel guilty that you are going to college rather than getting a job to help your family financially. You feel sad but don't allow yourself to cry, feeling it's not manly.

Daughter: You are 17 and a senior in high school. Your father has died of cancer, just prior to the beginning of school. You feel the loss deeply but can't express your feelings. When your family wants to talk about your dad's death, you withdraw.

Daughter: You are 14 and in the last year of junior high school. Your dad has just died after a year-long bout with cancer. You want to rebel against your family and do your own thing but feel some guilt that you might be hurting your mother. You are annoyed with your older sister because she refuses to discuss things about your dad's death.

Mother: You are left with three childrenâ?" a 19-year-old son, who is just entering college; a 17-year-old daughter; and a 14-year-old daughter. You are concerned about how you are going to make it financially and how you are going to cope emotionally without your husband. You are also in touch with some anger at your husband for dying and leaving you with all this responsibility. These feelings scare you. You are concerned about your son leaving home, your older daughter's inability to express her grief, and your younger daughter's alienation from your family.

Counselor: You have been asked by a mother, who recently lost her husband after a year-long bout with cancer, to sit down with her and her three childrenâ?" a 19-year-old son, a 17-year-old daughter, and a 14-year-old daughterâ?" and help them discuss their feelings and make realistic plans for the future. The mother feels overwhelmed by her situation. Your task is to facilitate the grief work and help them with whatever they ask for help with.