Grief Worksheets
Navigating a loss can be a difficult process, and it is a journey unique to every individual. To help your patient work through the stages of grief, download this printable grief worksheet!
Fact Checked by RJ Gumban.
What is a Stages of Grief Worksheet?
Everyone will experience grief at some point in their life, whether it’s the loss of a job, a relationship, or a loved one. Depending on the person and the loss, it might just be one of the hardest things that they will have to deal with.
Grief also never really goes away. It’ll always be there and it’ll creep up from time to time, sometimes when we least expect it, but we grow around it to better contain it.
To make things easier for you to help your patients navigate themselves around their losses and work through their grief, perhaps having them elaborate on what they feel through could aid in nudging them to determine and take the next steps in order cope in healthy ways!
What are the Stages of Grief?
Developed by Kübler-Ross, there are five stages of grief which include how an individual typically responses to loss. However, it is important to note that every individual can go through these stages differently and in anon-linear fashion. The grieving process is unique for every individual, and should be treated as such.
Denial
The first stage is denial, where individuals may feel numb to the loss and deny its occurrence. It focuses on feelings of avoidance.
Anger
In this stage, individuals are likely to experience frustration, irritation, and feelings of anger at the loss. Individuals may perceive life as unfair and prejudiced.
Bargaining
Here, individuals may make promises to themselves to make their situations feel better. It is characterised by false hope and negotiations.
Depression
In this stage, individuals may feel sadness constantly, and may feel the need to isolate from others. Individuals can be withdrawn, and find difficulty in completing mot tasks. This stage can be particularly long-lasting, and present throughout the entire grieving process.
Acceptance
At the final stage, individuals will accept the loss and begin to deal with their new reality. They can start rebuilding their life and receive enjoyment again.
Here, at Carepatron, we have a Stages of Grief worksheet to help with that!
Printable Grief Worksheets
Download this Grief Worksheet and help guide your clients through each of the different stages of grief.
How do I use this grief worksheet?
The Stages of Grief worksheet is a free grief worksheet that uses the Kubler-Ross model of grief, commonly known as the Five Stages of Grief.
When a person experiences the loss of something or someone important to them, they are thrust into a brave new world where whatever or whoever it is they are grieving is gone forever.
A person who experiences loss will go through a wide range of emotional states that can be summed up with Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. Depending on the person, the time spent on each stage will depend on how soon they can confront what they’re feeling.
What does one write on a Stages of Grief worksheet?
The Stages of Grief worksheet is divided into five sections to reflect the five stages, and your patient needs to write down what they’re feeling at each stage. Hand them this worksheet and have them fill it out. Don’t force them to confront their feelings immediately. Let them take it at their own pace and walk them through each section during your discussions with them.
Here’s what they need to write down per section:
Denial: This is the part where they indicate what or who they lost as well as:
- If they are downplaying the loss
- If they are denying what happened
Those who are willing (or able) to confront what they are denying as soon as possible will be able to move past this stage early.
Anger: When a person confronts the loss and moves past the denial stage, it’s normal for them to be angry, at something or someone. What they will indicate here are the following:
- Are they angry?
- What or who are they angry at?
- Are they arguing about a situation and calling it unfair?
- Are they blaming something or someone?
Bargaining: Sometimes, a person will try to delay their recognition that a loss has occurred/is about to occur. More often than not, they will try to find ways in order to not go through the grief. Here, they will indicate how they’re trying to delay the loss, and this will depend on what exactly the loss is:
- Are they trying to convince an ex-partner/spouse to get back together?
- Are they searching for unrecognized alternative medicine to combat a terminal illness?
- Are they still showing up at an office even though they’ve been fired?
Depression: This is the part where it’s finally sinking in that the loss did happen. For this part, they will indicate what the person does in response to the loss:
- Did they suddenly isolate themselves?
- Do they cry a lot?
- Do they scream frequently out of frustration?
- Did they suddenly stop going to work/school?
This is when the person is most sensitive, but this is also the precursor to the final stage, Acceptance. This might be the best place to assure your patient that you’re here to listen. Don’t give unsolicited advice. Only give suggestions on what they could do to help cope.
Acceptance: The final stage is where the person has fully recognized and accepted that a loss has occurred. They are more logical about the loss and are coming to terms/have already come to terms with the loss. Here, they may indicate:
- How they think of themselves now post-acceptance of loss
- Are there any changes in their worldview?
- What did they do to cope? If they took any advice that you may have suggested, what did they take exactly and how did they find it?
- How are they planning on moving forward in life after the loss?
Stages of Grief Worksheet Example (Sample)
The Stages of Grief worksheet is straightforward and easy to use. There’s enough space for each section for a person to write on. There are also guide questions to help them determine what to write.
Download this Grief Worksheet Example (Sample) here:
Who can use this printable grief worksheet (PDF)?
Since this is a worksheet, this will primarily be used by your patient. Anyone who has experienced a loss can use this worksheet:
- Pre-teen
- Teen
- A working adult
- An unemployed adult
- A shut-in
- Someone who lost a loved one
- Someone who got disowned by their parents
- Someone who just experienced a breakup
- Someone who lost their home/got evicted
These are just examples of people that you might encounter as a grief counselor. Having them use this worksheet could help them confront a loss as well as find the drive to cope and move on.
Why is the Stages of Grief worksheet useful for Grief Counselors?
Easy to use
It’s divided into the Five Stages of Grief so it has a set structure that’s not complicated to follow.
Structure your patient discussions
Because it follows the Five Stages of Grief, this can also be the structure of your discussions, meaning you focus on whatever stage your patient is currently at.
Grief is already overwhelming in more ways than one, so it’s best to focus on one stage at a time rather than cram it all in one discussion. Grief takes time to process and varies from patient to patient, so make sure to give your patient the time and space they need.
Build relationships
Because grief is overwhelming, sometimes patients can’t exactly say what they want to say during a session. This free grief worksheet can help them articulate things better through writing. It’s hard to help a person work through their grief if you don’t know what they are feeling, so by having them write their feelings at each stage, you’ll have a good picture of the person and perhaps have ideas on how to help them walk through the coping and healing process.
Why Use Carepatron For Grief Software?
Here at Carepatron, we care about helping healthcare practitioners improve productivity and efficiency, especially when it comes to streamlining their clinical documentation. By taking advantage of our easy-to-navigate EHR system, you’ll gain access to a wide variety of worksheets such as this Stages of Grief worksheet!
Using these worksheets will help you with your counseling and make it easier for you and your patients to navigate and work through their grief.
You can even store these notes in a HIPAA-compliant manner and secure them by setting up who can access these documents besides you.
Not only is our grief software intuitive, but it’s also easily accessible! Whether you’re using an office desktop, a laptop, or even just your phone, you can access your grief worksheets anytime, anywhere!
Commonly asked questions
A grief worksheet is something that grief counselors may issue to patients in order to help them go through their grieving process. There are different kinds of grief worksheet examples, with this Stages of Grief being one of the most simple ones.
It depends on the worksheet a patient is given. There are different types, and each one has its own structure and format. As for the Stages of Grief worksheet, a patient has to write what they are feeling and what they do in response to what they’re feeling for each stage of grief they go through when they experience loss.
Grief counselors use these in order to have their patients write how they are dealing with the loss they’ve experienced. This becomes an opportunity for the patients to reflect on what they’re going through at their own pace. This could create opportunities for the patient to determine what they need to do in order to cope, and for the grief counselor to provide suggestions to help aid the patient as they work through their grief.
