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ATTENDANCE POLICY

We expect participants in the Academy's cohort-based courses to attend all course sessions. Each course session will build on the prior weeks. Attending and contributing consistently will enrich your experience and that of your peers.

Participants who attend all sessions will receive a certificate of completion. Those who miss no more than two sessions may receive a certificate of completion, at the Academy's discretion.

DESCRIPTION

Understanding Grief and Loss: Supporting Bereaved Community Members is a six-session course that introduces current research about grief, loss, and resilience, along with helpful strategies for supporting bereaved people. Together, participants will learn culturally responsive and person-centered strategies for supporting people who are grieving. We will also explore how personal experiences of loss can impact our work with bereaved community members.

WHAT TO EXPECT

This virtual course will include presentations, videos, discussions, and role plays. This is a highly interactive course, with time for questions throughout. In order to build community, we strongly encourage participants to join sessions on camera and stay on camera.

Capacity in this course is limited to 40 participants to promote interaction and engagement among participants and instructors. 

This course is a prerequisite for advanced workshops on Principles of Grief Support that will be offered in 2025. 

COURSE OBJECTIVES

• Learn about current research on grief, bereavement, attachment, loss, and resilience
•  Learn culturally responsive and person-centered strategies for supporting community members, employees, and co-workers who are impacted by grief
•  Identify when a bereaved individual may benefit from therapeutic support or intervention
•  Understand how personal experiences of loss can impact our work with bereaved individuals

COURSE OUTLINE

• Session I: Introductions and Common Myths About Grief and Loss
• Session II: Getting the Lay of the Land
• Session III: Prolonged Grief Disorder and Identifying When a Bereaved Person Needs More Support
• Session IV: Providing Support to Bereaved Individuals: The Nuts and Bolts
• Session V: Special Topics in Grief: Grief in Children, Complicated Spiritual Grief, Grief in BIPOC Communities
• Session VI: Supporting the Community, Supporting Ourselves: Grief Support Groups, Bereaved Employees and Colleagues, and Our Own Grief

ELIGIBILITY

This course is open to staff of any non-profit community organization or government agency that delivers social services in NYC. Learners who complete this course will be eligible to apply for an advanced workshop series on Principles of Grief Support.

SPECIAL NOTE

Due to the universal nature of grief, we expect that many, if not all course participants, will have experienced loss. Those considering this course should know that our focus will be on learning to support community members who are grieving. While we welcome reflections on how learners' personal experience of grief impacts their view of grieving and may contribute to the challenges of supporting others, we will not be able to provide personal grief support to learners in this course.

This course may not be a good fit for individuals who have suffered recent or traumatic losses, and is not a good fit for those experiencing acute distress or seeking personal therapeutic support. If you have any questions about whether this course would be appropriate for you, please contact [email protected].

HOW TO APPLY

Applications for the Fall 2024 cohort of this course are now closed.