The role of skilled compassionate touch in grief support: the experience of a bereavement massage therapy program in a community-based specialist palliative care service

Grief is a whole person phenomenon and, as such, may elicit a range of challenging physical and emotional responses. This presentation describes how the skilled provision of compassionate touch can serve to both ameliorate uncomfortable somatic manifestations of grief and provide an additional avenue of emotional support throughout the process of bereavement. The conceptual framework underpinning the integration of massage therapy within an interdisciplinary model of bereavement support draws upon the biopsychosocial approach to care, contemporary models of grief, loss and bereavement and the deepening appreciation of the indivisibility of the mind-body inter-relationship. Implementation of this practice within the bereavement support program delivered by EPC, a community-based specialist palliative care service, has demonstrably facilitated beneficial outcomes for bereaved caregivers and it is hoped that the sharing of information about the effectiveness of this integrated holistic approach will serve as a template for a broader inclusion of massage therapy as an innovative and complementary intervention in this area of human experience.