by Hugh Foy 

Loss and grief are an inevitable part of human experience. They are significant moments of change that are often an experience of desolation. As we know, all grief is particular to the person; however, from research into grief in the last decades, a specific form of grief has been recognised: ‘disenfranchised grief’. It describes the way in which some people experience loss in a way were it ‘is not, or cannot be, openly acknowledged, publicly mourned, or socially supported’.

In the last ten years the Xaverian missionaries have worked with chaplains in several Scottish prisons offering retreats and courses for Catholic prisoners and inter-religious prisoner groups. More recently we have responded to a request by the Scottish Prison Service to pilot bereavement support projects and offered both befriender and counselling models in this area. In this ministry we have encountered the reality of disenfranchised grief and its impact on prisoners’ lives.

Chaplains from across Christian denominations and other faiths are ministering in the most challenging of conditions, a ministry that often remains invisible to their own wider faith communities. Chaplains are at the front line of bereavement support in prisons; however, they have requested support, as the wider demands of their work make it almost impossible to cope fully with the constant levels of demand for support in this area.

Hugh Foy works for the Xaverian Missionaries, and is a member of the Open House board.

Reynolds J. (2002) ’Disenfranchised Grief and the Politics of Helping: social policy and its political implications’ in: Doka, K.J;(Ed.),Disenfranchised Grief: new directions, Challenges, and strategies for practice. Illinois, Research Press pp351-387

Doka, K. J. (2008) ‘Disenfranchised grief in historical and cultural perspective’ in M. S. Stroebe, R. O. Hansson, H. Schut, & W. Stroebe (Eds.), Handbook of bereavement research and practice: Advances in theory and intervention (pp. 223–240). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14498-011

Photo by John Cameron, Unsplash