Supporting

Significant Life Events

Mentor: Solomon Afework

Student: Laura Serban
ID number: 17002225
HND Health and Social Care, Holborn Campus

Supporting Significant Life Events

LO1 Understand how significant life events impact on individuals and their social
networks

1.1 Explain the impact of significant life events on individuals.

1.2 Analyse possible group responses to significant life events.

1.3 Analyse the impact for others in health and social care when an individual
experiences significant life events

LO2 Understand the support available for individuals experiencing significant life
events

2.1 Evaluate the effectiveness of organisational policies and procedures in supporting

individuals and their social networks affected by significant life events.

2.2 Explain how others in social networks may provide support to individuals
experiencing significant life events.

2.3 Evaluate the suitability of external sources of support for those affected by
significant life events.

LO3 Be able to analyse responses made by health and social care services to support
individuals experiencing significant life events

3.1 Analyse possible organisation responses to the need to support individuals

experiencing a significant life event.

3.2 Reflect on own personal contributions to the support of individuals experiencing

significant life event.

3.3 Make recommendations for improving the support available in a health and social
care organisation for individuals and their networks when affected by significant life
events

1.1 Explain the impact of significant life events on individuals.

According to Telford and Wrecking (2010), “ Significant Life events are any positive and
negative events that have an impact of a life of a person for a family that could affect
their physical or psychological condition”.

In the case of Jacqui, significant positive events are: that he gave birth to his daughter
who is now a teenager, the offer of work in Spain, to work on a mosaic project that he
accepts and after a long time moved to his own home. The significant negative events
in her life begin when her health deteriorates and diagnosing with Alzheimer's disease.

The impact of significant events in Jacqui's life is evidenced by stress, mental pressure
and personal problems but some individuals could experiencing grief and depression.

Stress according to Mcleod (2010) is “a psychological and biological process, in

response to a treat we face at that moment”. Changes and demands in the environment
produce the stress. The amount of tasks that a person has to complete for example is
the stressor.

According to Hobfoll (1998) COR theory, "It is very stressful to adapt and integrate in a
new society (migration). The difference in culture, norms, a new language and climate
contributes to stress. All this contributes to the development of the mental health
problems "as well as what Jacqui experiences. Psychological changes in response to
stress are the stars of dizziness. As the behavioral response to Jacqui's stress is the
state of insomnia and the neglect of responsibilities. As cognitive response to stress,
she lost contact with reality being confused.

Other people can experience grief (pain that any of us feel when one of the love ones
dies) as impact of significant events.
Kubler-Ross Grief Cycle

Grief, sometimes turn into depression. According to Saxon (2009) grief is associated
with depression, substance abuse and committing suicide. According to APA (2000),
depression cause impairments, loss of interest in things and they are not able to
function like they use to.

1.2 Analyse possible group responses to significant life events.

Family, professionals, society and organisations are jumping to help individuals to cope
with changes in their lives.

In the case of abused and neglect children, family and society must answer if they
notice physical signs (bites, marks and injuries in any part of the body) and changes in
behavior (withdrawn or aggressive behavior, fear of someone to approached or
touched). Family must respond immediately, being most important person in child's
life.However, all of these signs must be investigated before jumping to conclusions.

Social Services and Police responding to abuse by Safeguarding children. The police
will work in partnership with social services, school and GP (to see the history of the
child health and to investigate the sign from the body) to investigate the abuse to which
the child was subjected. Help and advice will be provided to the child and parents by
organizations and professionals so that they can recover the child physically and
mentally. In Jacqui's case, she can no longer take care of her teenage girl and she's
aware she needs help. As an answer to her problems, her family was the one who
responded positively to helping her. She decided to move back to England to her
parents.

If a relative dies family and the community jumps to the aid of people bereaved. At first
they will not want to realize the death of the loved one, will be stunned after which will
start to cry and yearning in the same time.

The community will be present with financial and emotional help. They will immediately
join the priests who will hold jobs for the family and the deceased. There will be respect
for burial rituals that signise the passage of the soul of the Dead to God.

Bereaved people will face guilt, parating them badly that they would want to do or say
something before the person dies. Siblings will be around them taking care to be safe
especially when they are filled with pain and state of agitation. After a while he will
reconcile with the idea that he will have to start a new life.

Some of the people suffers of complicated grief. A resident from my workplace refuse
to eat and take care of himself being stuck in an intense state of mourning. Everyday
speaks and cries after his death wife.He's negling and waiting to die to be with her. He
continues to believe his life is pointless without his wife.

1.3 Analyse the impact for others in health and social care when an individual
experiences significant life events

Significant events in life can have a positive or negative impact in people's lives. For
example, higher grades in GCSE exams for my friend's child were the reason for joy for
her and her family. But when her son decided to follow a military career her life
changed. He tried to change his order to make him understand that she didn't raise the
copiers sending them to war. This decision I consider a stressful event in a mother's life.
Some soldiers who participated in wars face posttraumatic stress disorder.The war can
have a strong impact on them, so they can no longer adapt to the life they had before.
Often you see them being homeless, losing everything from family and friends.

Slide 1

UNIT 21: SUPPORTING

SIGNIFICANT LIFE EVENTS
LO 2 UNDERSTAND THE SUPPORT AVAILABLE FOR
INDIVIDUALS EXPERIENCING SIGNIFICANT LIFE EVENTS

Slide 2
2.1. Evaluate the effectiveness of
organisation policies and procedures in
supporting individuals and their social
UNDERSTAND THE networks affected by significant life events.

SUPPORT AVAILABLE
FOR THE
INDIVIDUALS 2.2. Explain how others in social networks
may provide support to individuals
EXPERIENCING experiencing significant life events.
SIGNIFICANT LIFE
EVENTS
2.3. Evaluate the suitability of external
sources of support for those affected by
significant life events.
Slide 3

• People who experienced significant moments in their lives are

helped by certain organizations and different networks to go
over. It will evaluate the policies and procedures that guide these
INTRODUCTION organizations. It is also important to see how effective they are
when it is applied and how much the individual benefits from
receiving them. How and how effective external support sources
are to help people who are affected by major life events.

Slide 4 The essential part of palliative care is

INTRODUCTION
THESE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES OUTLINE DIFFERENT WAYS TO HELP PEOPLE WHO NEED HELP CROSS THE DEATH OF
THEIR LOVED ONES. IF IMPLEMENTED, THEY ARE EXPECTED TO RESPOND TO THE REAL NEEDS OF BEREAVED PEOPLE IN
THEIR WAY. the support from the
commencement of the
The policies are: Palliative Care Funding Review (2011):
• Standards for Bereavement Care (2001)
• Palliative Care Funding Review (2011)
• Pre-bereavement support
• Equity of access
bereavement. Usually the
• Shaping Bereavement Care (2010) • Pre-bereavement assessment include
• When a Patient Dies (2005) information's that supports on
bereavement are available into the
hospice, it is a need of information's
in each situation that patient die.

Slide 5
Standards for Bereavement Care (2001)

Evaluation
• Came with clear rules in delivering bereavement • Care workers must been trained
• Real needs brings services and processes • Their work recognised
• The result of this processes are evaluate • Supervision, counselling, de briefing must been
in place
• Progress evaluated too
• New services are develop , based on progresses
• A research agenda create
• Services applied
Slide 6
WHEN A Sensitive support must be delivered to person that
PATIENT DIES dyes and to their carers

(2005)
PEOPLE THAT Include the steps that must be followed from “Care in
the last day of life” and “Care after death” for the
EXPERIENCING bereaved people

BEREAVEMENT
NEED TO HAVE Working in partnership to provide high quality
services and good practice in respecting and involving
service users when delivering bereavement services
ACKNOWLEDGE
D THEIR LOS BY
PROFESSIONALS Dignity and respect in care into a environment that
promotes privacy (Dignity in care)

Slide 7 All the people that had contact with

2.2 EXPLAIN HOW OTHERS IN SOCIAL NETWORKS MAY
PROVIDE SUPPORT TO THE INDIVIDUALS EXPERIENCING
SIGNIFICANT LIFE EVENTS.
the deceased person over time are
•
•
According to NICE: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2013) people affected by the death of a person are:
Family, friends, staff affected by individuals death.
• Service providers, professionals
•
•
•
Come in the help of people who suffers from the loss:
Spiritual support and care received immediately the time of death; sometimes the support could take a longer time
Important advice, general emotional support
There is need for systems to be put
•

in place to support the people

Staff support conversations

affected by the death of a loved

oanes.

Slide 8
THE FACTORS THAT RESTRICTS THE ASSISTANCE OF
PEOPLE IN NEED ARE:

• The staff don’t know very well the family 29%

• People that are part of the family are living in another area 25%
• People that are not requiring support 23%
Slide 9 According to Agnew and Donaghy
“HOLISTIC” ASSESSMENT IS NEED TO BE PUT IN PLACE,
TREATMENT, CARE AND SUPPORT, PHYSICAL,
PSYCHOLOGICAL, SPIRITUAL CONSIDERATION
(2008) social networks and their
Phycological care
• Social skills training
Palliative care
• When person needs must be available
quality, has an effect on the help
• For psychological stress a solving trust issue is
needed
• Solving trust to deal with anxiety and depression
• Addressed to individuals that their needs cannot
be managed by the regular care team provided in bereavement case.
Picton (2001) states that people that
don’t have family support feel the
need to share their suffering and
they will use the support groups to
deal with.
Family and friends are the ones that
are there to help the bereaved
person. After a time they must
return to their personal life and the
bereaved individual will not longer
benefit from their attention.

Slide 10 They have very clear objective

2.3 EVALUATE THE SUITABILITY OF EXTERNAL SOURCES OF
SUPPORT FOR THOSE AFFECTED BY SIGNIFICANT LIFE
EVENTS
establish to met the needs of he
The external sources of support are the organisations that are available in case of significant life events:

Macmillan Care
individual. All the professionals must
The companionate friends
Bereavement uk
Deaf Society
have professional training to raise
Marie Curie – Bereavement Care
Cruse Bereavement Care
The Royal National Institute of Blind People awareness how react people in pain.
Data will be collected and used in
improving the systems that already
are in place. They are working in
partnership and are able to refer to
another professionals.
3.1 Analyse possible organisation responses to the need to support individuals
experiencing a significant life event.

Organisational response to a significant life event such as bereavement must to rely on

respect, empathy, informed choices and then to provide support. Must have a person
with whom you can communicate openly in the case of bereavement. The confidentiality
of information in accordance with Data protection ACT 2018 is to be considered when
talking about the organization's response.

We are all different and our needs are the same. We come from different cultures and
impact with different new significant events, the people you trade differently. Cultural
practices must be evaluated before and decisions on how to help the employee must be
taken in accordance with the policies and procedures of the Organization all having
equal rights.

The manager and the Human Resources responsable are the ones that must help the
individual that experiencing a significant life event. They must be those who implement
the proactive plan of the organization in special cases to offer a real help to the
employee.

Human resources staff must be there to provide booklets with indications, a handbook
and can refer you to organizations that deal with the support of folded people. If an
employee goes through mourning he is entitled to 5 days from annual leave, because
he needs private space and time to deal with problem.
In the event of a critical incident that can overwhelm a person and can create distress
with which he cannot deal with. Human resources representative, director and the
manager must deal with the incidents. They must provide equipment of protection as
gloves or helmets to reduce serious incidents.

REFERENCES

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