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Support Needs of Family and Friends of Long Term Missing Persons
A report on the various support needs expressed by relatives and friends of missing persons, and how these needs can most satisfactorily be met.
Introduction
“You ‘re lucky you were saved the cost of a funeral.”
“All I wanted was to speak to someone in the same position.”
These two comments, the first reported to be from a counselor to the spouse of a missing person, and the second from the spouse of a missing person, demonstrate the need for more appropriate and adequate support for families and friends of missing persons.
Previous studies have demonstrated that assistance for relatives and friends involved with missing persons is frequently neither relevant nor readily available. This research project is an attempt to determine the level and nature of support that would best fulfill the needs of a diverse range of families and friends.
Australian literature and research on issues relating to missing persons is still very limited in range. One of the most widely recognized and comprehensive reports, Missing People Issues for the Australian Community (Henderson & Henderson, 1998), identifies eighteen areas in need of improvement, most being related to the provision of support services for relatives and friends of missing persons. It is clear that four years later some of these problems have not yet been resolved. The report states, “There was strong support for a service specializing in missing person issues, although the sorts of service people considered it should provide varied.”
This report was followed by paper 144, Missing Persons: Incidence, Issues and Impacts, (Henderson, Henderson & Kiernan, 2000). Written two years later, the paper summarizes the earlier Henderson Report. It indicates that though some needs of people involved are being better recognized and addressed, in certain areas support needs remain unmet.
The more recently written report, Best Practice in Counselling Models Relevant to Families and Friends of Missing Persons, (Hunter Institute of Mental Health, 2001), provides an extensive overview of the relevant literature. It also outlines various counselling models and their suitability for use with missing persons-related support services. Eight recommendations are made, for the provision of more appropriate training for those providing support services, and for suitably trained counselors to be clearly accessible to their client base.
The focus of the current report is on the various support needs expressed by relatives and friends of missing persons and how these needs can most satisfactorily be met.
You may download a copy of the full report in Word format: Support Needs of Family and Friends of Long Term Missing Persons
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