“I Didn’t Think Anyone Cared”: A Bereavement Partnership Between Social Work and Medical Examiner’s Office

The role of the medical examiner’s office (MEO) is to determine the cause, mechanism, and manner of death for violent, sudden, or unexpected deaths. At Wayne County’s MEO in Detroit, Michigan, the office handles approximately 17,300 death investigations per year, with over 3,500 cases accepted for examination. An organization that sees deaths due to homicide, suicide, and accidental overdoses, the MEO makes for opportune social work intervention due to stigmatized grief. These deaths carry increased risk of complicated grief, as the bereaved may become isolated with limited social support (Vincent et al., 2015; Vessier-Batchen & Douglas, 2006; Armour, 2007). To address this population’s needs, Kintzle and Bride (2010) developed a social work-medical examiner model, collaborating with a medical examiner’s office to offer support.

This poster outlines the launch and first two years of a social work-medical examiner model program between Wayne State University’s School of Social Work (SSW) and the Wayne County MEO to offer the Detroit community bereavement support. Goals were co-created to include acute grief intervention, referrals for financial assistance and counseling, and assistance with next-step planning. The SSW hired two part-time social workers to provide these supports and supervise practicum placements for two first-year MSW students and one BSW student.

Work began with strategically integrating social work into the MEO to become part of the team rather than an addendum to existing work. Critical to this process was shadowing all departments, including postmortem exams, attending death investigation scenes, and observing families during decedent identifications. Though complex and challenging, this relationship building was essential to understanding the organizational environment and current processes in order for the social work team to make a lasting impact.

Integrating both macro and micro social work, the team developed brochures on local financial and grief resources and designed outreach methods such as bereavement calls to conduct brief biopsychosocial assessments. The team also collaborates with local, county, and state partners to aid in resource allocation and participate in monthly death review teams. These partnerships highlight the multidisciplinary nature of the work.

Since beginning in August 2023, the social work program has expanded significantly, becoming an invaluable component of the MEO. Interns have gained experience in clinical assessments, outreach, and research, as well as recognizing and addressing compassion fatigue. With two more years on the contract, we hope to expand services while continuing to offer students opportunities to engage in this critical work.