Chapter 3: Social Services and Bereavement in the Lesbian and Gay Community

Social service programs to address multiple loss in the gay and lesbian community must incorporate an understanding of the relationship between bereavement and the gay and lesbian experience including issues of stigma, homophobia, and the cumulative effects of stress. To address the collective experience of multiple loss, individual, family, and group interventions should be conducted in conjunction with social supports, community rituals, and political activity. Agencies need to prepare by instituting staff education and specific organizational policies to address HIV and bereavement, and provide organizational support to social service staff to facilitate the effective delivery of bereavement services.