All Scheduled Dates
Information session: Wednesday, April 1, 10:00am-11:00am
The May Cohort will meet the following Wednesdays from 9:45am-11:15am:
- May 6
- May 13
- May 20
- May 27
- June 3
- June 10
- June 17
Applications close on 4/14.
Course Type
Skills-Based Certificate Program
Course Length
10.5 hours over 7 weeks
QUESTIONS?
Email [email protected]
ATTENDANCE POLICY
This is an interactive, cohort-based course. 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 one session may receive a certificate of completion, at the Academy's discretion.
Principles of Grief Support for Social Service Providers
DESCRIPTION
This advanced, 7-session course helps learners develop skills to support the emotional needs of people who are grieving. Drawing on current research and clinical practices, learners will deepen their understanding of grief and its emotional, physiological, and social impacts. This is an experiential course where learners gain concrete skills to help people process the pain of loss in 1:1 conversations and bereavement support groups. You will strengthen skills to cultivate presence with clients, validate others’ experiences, and support meaning-making and rituals, among others.
Capacity in this course is limited to promote interaction and engagement among participants and instructors.
WHAT TO EXPECT
This highly interactive course will be a mix of teaching, large and small group discussion, reflection, and skills practice. The experiential (hands-on) components of the course will involve role-plays; other skills practice and engaging in a process of self-reflection and personal exploration.
During this course, we will be practicing and applying the principles of grief support with each other in small groups. While self-disclosure about personal losses is not required, it will likely be a part of the experience for many participants.
Each week will include a combination of an arrival or closing practice, large and small group discussions, presentations by the instructors, personal reflections, guided skills practice, and time for questions. Participants will also be asked to complete brief assignments between course sessions, such as readings, written exercises, or film clips. Due to the highly interactive nature of this course, participants can expect to spend significant time on camera.
We aim to develop a cohesive and supportive learning environment within this cohort, which requires a commitment to attending weekly.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Participants will learn:
- How to determine the appropriate level of support for bereaved individuals
- Strategies to respond to the emotional needs of bereaved people over time
- The roles of meaning-making and ritual in grief
- Ways to support bereaved children, individuals with traumatic bereavement, and bereavement overload
- Considerations when grief is related to a loss by suicide or overdose
- How to provide bereavement support in group settings
- How our personal experiences, history, values, and beliefs can impact our work with the bereaved
- How to cultivate self-compassion and compassion for others as we help bereaved individuals
COURSE OUTLINE
The first session will include introductions, setting group norms for this course, and outlining what to expect. We will also cover current research about how grief impacts us and factors that mediate it.
This 75-minute live online session will involve:
- On-camera introductions
- Presentation by instructors
- Small group discussions
Objectives:
- Recognize common grief reactions across emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and physical domains
- Identify modifiers to grief intensity
In the second session, we will discuss how the experience of grief and the emotional needs of grievers can change over time. We will introduce skills to support people in processing the pain of loss.
This 75-minute live online session will involve:
- Presentation by instructors
- Large and small group discussions
- Skills practice: validation and reflection
Objectives:
- Identify grievers who may need additional support or services
- Recognize changing needs of the bereaved overtime
- Build skills of reflection and validation
In the third session, we will look at bereavement overload, traumatic bereavement, and how we can cultivate the “power of presence.” We will also address grief in children and the grief of parents losing children.
This 75-minute live session will involve:
- Presentation by instructors
- Small group skills practice: the power of presence
- Large group discussions
Objectives:
- Gain knowledge of unique features of grief due to bereavement overload, traumatic bereavement, loss of a child, grief in children, and perinatal loss
- Build skills to cultivate a facilitating presence while supporting the bereaved
In the fourth session, we will explore the relationships between ritual, cultural humility, grief, and complicated spiritual grief.
This 75-minute live session will involve:
- Presentation by instructors
- Small group discussions
Objectives:
- Discover the importance of cultural humility in supporting the bereaved
- Identify features of complicated spiritual grief
- Experiment with the role of ritual in mourning
In the fifth session, we will discuss death competence and ways to increase our comfort helping others. We also explore meaning making as a way to help people process and heal from loss.
This 75-minute live session will involve:
- Presentation by instructors
- Small group discussions
Objectives:
- Increase capacity for self-reflection, identifying and navigating barriers to greater “death competence
- Explain the role of meaning-making in healing after a loss
In session six, we will discuss how you can integrate bereavement support into therapeutic groups. Many non-profit care providers already facilitate, or will facilitate, groups that help people process and cope with a range of issues. This week introduces tools for integrating bereavement support into group settings.
This 75-minute live session will involve:
- Presentation by instructors
- Experience of a grief support group
- Skills practice: facilitation skills
Objectives:
- Examine structures, functions, and logistical considerations of effective grief support groups
- Build the skill of creating shared group agreements
- Identify the stages of group development (Tuckman’s Model - forming–storming–norming–performing) and strategies for working with different stages
In the last session, we will discuss the personal impacts of working with bereaved people. We will discuss factors that lead to burnout or secondary traumatic stress, and how we can use self-compassion practices as antidotes.
This 75-minute live session will involve:
- Presentation by instructors
- Small group discussions
- Skills practice: compassion with equanimity
- Large group discussions
Objectives:
- Identify features of secondary trauma
- Build skills in using self-compassion to manage the impact of working with bereaved
ELIGIBILITY
This course is for staff of NYC non-profit community-based organizations or government agencies that deliver social services and meet the following criteria:
- You have opportunities to provide direct support to bereaved people in your role. Direct care staff, supervisors, managers, or leaders who can directly support bereaved community members or employees are eligible to apply.
- You commit to attend and actively participate in course sessions and complete brief exercises between sessions. While we understand conflicts may arise, we ask participants to attend at least 6/7 course sessions.
- You have received approval from your supervisor to participate in all course sessions and apply the skills from this course in your work.
This course may be an especially good fit for learners who have taken previous grief and loss courses at the Academy, including brief courses (e.g. Grief: Let’s Talk, Grief in Children) and multi-session courses (e.g. Understanding Grief and Loss).
To successfully participate in this course, you will also need:
- Access to a private, quiet space for course sessions
- A computer with a camera, microphone, and Zoom capability
HOW TO APPLY
We encourage interested applicants to attend an information session on 4/1 (register here).
Applications for the upcoming May Cohort can be found here and will close on 4/14.
Please reach out to [email protected] with any questions.
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].
