Preparing Psychology Students to Work with Terminal Patients (within the Psychological Rehabilitation Specialization)

The article describes the ‘seminar- immersion’ – one of the ways of recreation therapist’s training. This seminar is aimed at helping students to better understand the inner state and problems of terminal patient as well as their relatives and medical staff. This training method was developed in the Psychological Institute, Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg (Germany) and was handed to the Psychological Rehabilitation Chair at MSUPE as a part of the cooperation. Participation in the seminar helps students to actualize their own experience and affections as well as to understand the problem of death and dying from the patient and his relatives’ point of view. Such way of work requires a special attention to participants’ emotional safety and therapist’s high quality level in psychiatry. The article presents the structure of the seminar, gives examples of practical exercises and questions to discuss during such seminar. The author stresses that touching the problem of death in modern culture is tabooed enough, and starting this problem is a significant contribution to the process of rehabilitational psychologist competency formation.