The Soul Online: Bereavement, Social Media, and Competent Care - Paperback

by Graham Joseph Hill (Author), Desiree Geldenhuys (Author)

Pandemics, conflicts, and crises have increased suffering, death, and loss worldwide. The growing phenomenon of online interactions by the bereaved with the online presence of their deceased loved ones has recently come to the attention of caring professionals. Many questions emerge. How do we understand and respond to digital memorialization? What do we make of digital identities and continuing bonds? How can we engage with digital bereavement communities? What is the future of digital death and bereavement rituals and practices? How have forms of technospirituality and cybergnosticism emerged? How do counselors and carers respond to advances in the digital afterlife? Graham Joseph Hill and Desiree Geldenhuys examine existing therapeutic responses to death and bereavement practices and evaluate the efficacy in meeting the needs of mourners in a digital context. Geldenhuys and Hill explore the rising interest in spirituality and the phenomenon of technospirituality, including interest in the afterlife. The authors outline new death and bereavement practices in the digital public sphere. Hill and Geldenhuys offer ways that therapeutic and care practitioners can meet these needs. Finally, the authors develop new proposals for counseling, pastoral, and spiritual carers to help them address the needs of the bereaved.

Author Biography

Desiree Geldenhuys is Tutor in Counseling at Stirling Theological College (University of Divinity). She is a Clinical Counsellor, Clinical Member of the College of Supervisors with the Australian Counseling Association (ACA), and a member of the College of Grief and Loss Counsellors (Australia).



Graham Joseph Hill is Principal of Stirling Theological College (University of Divinity) and Associate Professor of Global Christianity. Graham's author website is www.grahamjosephhill.com. Graham is the author of eleven books, including Holding Up Half the Sky, Hide This in Your Heart (co-authored with Michael Frost), and Healing Our Broken Humanity (co-authored with Grace Ji-Sun Kim).