Application
This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required to respond appropriately to client expressions of grief according to work health and safety, relevant legislation and workplace policies and procedures. It includes dealing effectively with colleague and personal grief. It applies to a wide range of staff and forms part of a basic requirement for all work within the funeral services industry.
No licensing, legislative or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.
Elements and Performance Criteria
ELEMENTS | PERFORMANCE CRITERIA |
Elements describe the essential outcomes. | Performance criteria describe the performance needed to demonstrate achievement of the element. |
1. Interact with grieving clients. | 1.1 Recognise grief responses for grieving clients. 1.2 Become familiar with social, cultural and religious differences that may affect grief responses. 1.3 Apply appropriate communication and interpersonal skills when responding to grieving clients. |
2. Provide support for colleagues in grief situations. | 2.1 Recognise colleagues experiencing difficulty in coping with grief. 2.2 Apply appropriate communication techniques and interpersonal skills to respond to colleague’s grief needs. 2.3 Apply strategies for providing informal grief support. |
3. Deal with personal grief. | 3.1 Be aware of personal grief responses. 3.2 Apply strategies for responding to personal grief. 3.3 Access workplace information resources for meeting staff grief needs. 3.4 Participate in debriefing and peer support sessions with other staff members. |
Evidence of Performance
Evidence of the ability to:
recognise and respond to clients and colleagues grief according to workplace policies and procedures, job role requirements and industry protocols
use appropriate communication techniques with grieving clients and colleagues from a range of social, cultural and religious backgrounds and implement strategies for dealing with own grief.
Evidence of performance responding to two or more grieving clients and colleagues is required to demonstrate consistency of performance and ability to respond to different situations.
Evidence of Knowledge
Demonstrated knowledge of:
features of physical and emotional manifestations of grief, including:
crying
fear
pain
depression
anger
sadness
disbelief
denial
shock
violence
humour
relief
withdrawal
confusion
social, religious, cultural and other differences affecting grief responses, including:
religion of client or colleague
cultural response to death
age of deceased person
relationship of client or colleague to deceased person
circumstances surrounding the death
number of losses experienced by client or colleague
level of family or community support
existence of family conflict
health of client or colleague
disability
effective communication strategies for providing a healing response to individuals and families for dealing with grief workplace policies and procedures, in regard to identifying colleagues having difficulty coping with grief, maintaining confidentiality of colleagues and debriefing and peer support systems
funeral services protocols when dealing with the bereaved, including demonstrating tact, maintaining confidentiality of client and business information, respecting others’ views, acting responsibly
types of workplace support materials for dealing with grief, including location and contact details of grief care services, print references, videos, websites, support groups and grief care service information
strategies for monitoring own stress levels in relation to working in the area of grief situations.
Assessment Conditions
Skills must be demonstrated in the workplace or in a simulated environment that is as industry realistic as possible. In a simulated environment, it is essential that assessment is conducted:
using suitable facilities, equipment and resources, including:
a funeral services environment where grief reactions and appropriate responses can be assessed
documentation, including information resources related to loss, grief
under industry conditions where there is:
integration of tasks with possible interruptions to work typical of the job role
interaction with grieving clients and colleagues
Assessors must satisfy the NVR/AQTF mandatory competency requirements for assessors.
Foundation Skills
This section describes those language, literacy, numeracy and employment skills that are essential to performance.
Foundation skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.
Sectors
Cross-Sector
Competency Field
Working in Industry