ABSTRACT
Beginning in the 1970s, peer-led support groups offered the first interventions specific for friends and family members bereaved by violent dying. Since the dying story is paramount in the repetitive, imaginary retelling, revising the story is a primary focus in restoring the patient, and a conceptual model has been developed to clarify the process of reconstructive narration. The primary focus of the group interaction is on moderating trauma and separation distress and reinforcing resilience, before the direct engagement of the group in the imagery of violent dying. With the support of a training grant from the Office for Victims of Crime, manuals for the criminal death support and restorative retelling interventions have been prepared. Means and standard deviations were calculated for the assessed continuous measures; frequency distributions were calculated for categorical measures. Intervention was marked by a high degree of engagement in participation and there were no reported complications.
