David Kissane is Professor/Director of Palliative Medicine and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne, President of The International Psycho-Oncology Society and an internationally renowned psycho-oncologist, bereavement researcher and clinician.
Sidney Bloch has a personal Chair in Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne, is an internationally regarded teacher and has authored several books on psychotherapy, ethics and families.

"To those of us who have been aware of the innovative service to families facing death and bereavement that has been developed by David W. Kissane and Sidney Bloch this book has been eagerly awaited. Their work is a logical development in the field of Palliative Care in which it has long been recognized that, when life is threatened, it is the family (which includes the patient) which is, or ought to be, the unit of care.
The work also has great relevance for the wider field of bereavement care...all who work to help families at times of death and bereavement will find much to learn from this book which represents a useful addition to our understanding of the losses which, sooner or later, we all have to face." - Colin Murray Parkes

Family members are often intimately involved in the care of dying people and themselves require support through both their experience of palliative care and bereavement. This innovative book describes a comprehensive model of family care and how to go about it - Family Focused Grief Therapy is an approach which is new, preventive, cost effective and with proven benefits to bereaved people. It describes a highly original and creative approach to bereavement care, one likely to revolutionize psychosocial care in oncology, hospice or palliative care and grief work.

The book has been designed rather like a therapy manual, providing a step-by-step approach to assessment and intervention. Its rich illustration through many clinical examples brings the process of therapy alive for the reader, anticipating the common challenges that arise and describing how the therapist might respond. Families are recognised throughout as the central social unit, pivotal to the success of palliative care.

Family Focused Grief Therapy will be of use to doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, pastoral care workers, psychiatrists and other allied health professionals who work in caring for the dying and for their bereaved relatives. Based soundly on a decade of internationally regarded research, this book will alter the direction of future medical practice and is destined to become a classic in its field.

Series editor's preface
Foreword by Colin Murray Parkes
Introduction
Family care and family grief
A typology of family functioning
Conducting family focused grief therapy (FFGT)
Common themes that arise during FFGT
A typical encounter of therapy
Challenges and problems in the delivery of FFGT
The impact of specific life events upon families
The ethical dimension
Clinical application of the FFGT model
Appendix 1
The Family Relationships Index (FRI)
Appendix 2
Tables of results from the Melbourne Family Grief Studies
Bibliography
Index.