Workshop on Dignity Therapy
A workshop titled “Biograpy Work at Life’s End – How to Support a Deliberate Forming of Life Transitions” was held in the Academy at the end of May and was chaired by the sociologist Dr. Swantje Goebel of the hospice society Bergstraße e.V. Main emphasis was laid on “Dignity Therapy”, a therapeutic short time intervention for critically ill people, which is also important for lay people and relatives.
The term ‘dignity’ is without any doubt a key term for dealing with the dying. It is hard to define and often controversially disputed in ethical and legal debates. Biography work relying on the patient’s capabilities shapes dignity in a positively determined way because it builds up the people and creates something with them. Complexe strains which ill people are exposed to may lead to their feeling hurt in their personal dignity. A counseled look back upon life is one possibility of assuring oneself of one’s own resources and using them for one’s personal coming to terms with one’s life.
The workshop was well attended with 21 colleagues mainly from the hospice and palliative care field. The participants could thus train themselves in small groups in the practice of the interview as being the first step in a four step procedure. Questions were addressed such as: “What are your hopes and dreams for the people you love most?” or “Did you learn anything about life which you would like to pass on?” The participants discussed the employment possibilities of biography work and in the end completed it with other methods. All participants felt gratefully inspired by this short time intervention and stimulated to go further into this subject.