ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a general overview of the nature of counseling, and describes how counseling techniques can be used to help bereaved and dying people cope with the tasks they face. It explores the goals of counseling bereaved and dying people, the basic values, attitudes and communication skills which effective counselors need, and some specific interventions which have proven helpful to these clients. Counseling is a discipline which requires practitioners to have knowledge about human personality and development, skills in communication and relationship-building and a set of attitudes that allows them to work in the best interests of the client without having their personal values interfere in the process. Transforming the goals of counseling into actions that will meet the specific requirements of bereaved, grieving, and dying clients requires that a counselor achieve a deep understanding of how people experience these situations.
