Сòòò½ÊÓƵ

Full Course Description

The Neuroscience of Grief

Why does grief hurt so much? Why does death, the permanent absence of a person with whom you are bonded, result in such devastating feelings and lead to behavior and beliefs that are inexplicable, even to the grieving person? Neuroscience and cognitive psychology can provide some answers beyond what grief feels like—tackling the questions of why. Some of the answers to our questions about grief can be found in the brain, the seat of our thoughts and feelings, motivations, and behaviors. By looking at grief from the perspective of the brain, we will discuss the contemporary neuroscience of how bonded relationships are encoded in order to better understand the why of grief. Considering grieving to be a form of learning is helpful to understanding the trajectory of adaptation during bereavement. 

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Describe how the neurobiological attachment system encodes close relationships and the separation response to loss. 
  2. Compare separation in pair-bonded animals to the neurobiological effects of acute grief in humans. 
  3. Explain how rumination and avoidance can interfere with the grieving process, preventing learning how to restore a meaningful life. 

Outline

Neurobiology of grief and grieving 

  • Neurobiology of attachment in humans and pair-bonded animals 
  • The difference between grief and grieving 
  • The Gone But Also Everlasting theory 
  • Risks and Limitations 

Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) 

  • Debunking the myth of the 5 stages of grief 
  • Empirical data on the grieving trajectories 

Grieving as a form of learning 

  • Complications for learning are also complications for grieving 

Toolkit of coping strategies and psychotherapeutic intervention 

  • Emotion regulation flexibility, the right strategy for the right moment 
  • Avoidance 
  • Rumination 

Target Audience

  • Psychiatrists   
  • Psychologists  
  • Counselors   
  • Social Workers  
  • Marriage and Family Therapists    
  • Nurses   
  • Physicians  
  • Other Mental Health Professionals 

Copyright : 04/25/2024

Certification Course: The Ultimate Grief Treatment Toolbox: Over 60 Interventions to Promote Healing & Hope Among Grieving Children, Adolescents & Adults

Grieving clients have some of the most heartbreaking stories that we see as clinicians. Your client’s world has been toppled following the loss of a loved one, and in addition to missing that person, your client is now questioning what they know about themselves and the world. Paralyzing grief has made even the simplest tasks difficult for them, and you’re overwhelmed because nothing that you do seems to help.

Watch Dr. Erica Sirrine, Ph.D., LCSW, FT, as she walks you through over 60 interventions that you can use to help your grieving clients find hope and heal. Drawing on her expertise as a bereavement counselor and educator, Dr. Sirrine blends remarkable case studies with creative intervention strategies for an engaging and unforgettable workshop that will arm you with the skills you need to be an effective therapist for grieving clients.

Whether your client is experiencing feelings of premature grief due to the anticipated death of a loved one, pain and loss following a divorce, or feelings of disbelief and shock following a traumatic death, this workshop will prepare you to skillfully intervene.

Watch this seminar and discover:

  • Over 60 interventions to help clients mourn, reconcile their losses & discover hope
  • Assessment & treatment techniques for children, adolescents & adults
  • Session topics & treatment approaches for individuals, groups & families
  • Strategies to treat clients dealing with anticipatory grief
  • Techniques & ideas for facilitating bereavement groups & grief camps

Best of all, upon completion of this training, you’ll be eligible to become a Certified Grief Informed Professional (CGP) through Evergreen Certifications. Certification lets colleagues, employers, and clients know that you’ve invested the extra time and effort necessary to understand the complexities of grief counselling. Professional standards apply. Visit  for details.

Purchase today to discover the ultimate grief treatment toolbox and revolutionize your treatment of grieving clients!

CERTIFICATION MADE SIMPLE!

  • No hidden fees – Сòòò½ÊÓƵ pays for your application fee (a $99.99 value)!
  • Simply complete this seminar and the post-event evaluation included in this training, and your application to be a Certified Grief Informed Professional through Evergreen Certifications is complete.*

Attendees will receive documentation of CGP designation from Evergreen Certifications 4 to 6 weeks following the program.

*Professional standards apply. Visit  for professional requirements.

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Analyze the differences in the clinical presentation of depression as compared to bereavement.
  2. Evaluate developmentally appropriate grief symptomatology across the lifespan.
  3. Develop individualized therapeutic interventions for bereaved children, adolescents, adults and families using various modalities.
  4. Identify continuing bonds after death and their relevance to clinical practice with bereaved clients.
  5. Develop a support group for bereaved children, adolescents, and/or adults.
  6. Utilize therapeutic techniques to address client grief associated with other forms of loss including divorce, chronic illness, military deployment and termination of parental rights.

Outline

Types of Grief & Their Implications for Treatment

  • Grief vs. mourning
  • Depression & bereavement: A distinction
  • Secondary losses after death
  • Non-death losses
  • The problem with “getting over it”
  • Misconceptions about grief & mourning
  • Limitations of the research & potential risks
Assessment: Intake Considerations for Grieving Clients
  • Grief & coping models
  • Factors that influence the mourning process
  • Assessment of continuing bonds
  • Loss line: The ultimate assessment tool
  • Normal vs. complicated grief vs. prolonged grief
  • Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder
Assessment of Grief & Loss in Children & Adolescents
  • How children, adolescents & adults cope differently
  • Considerations for different age groups
  • ”De-code” the meanings of behaviors
  • Six common questions following a death
  • ”Things we want adults to know about our grief”
  • Signs of concern/red flags
Interventions & Strategies for Anticipatory Grief
  • Normalize the dying process & grief experience
  • Model healthy mourning behaviors
  • Spot opportunities for memorialization
  • Provide death education & practical support
  • Strategies to prepare children & adults for the funeral

OVER 60 INTERVENTIONS TO PROMOTE HEALING WHEN IT’S TOO HARD TO TALK

Therapeutic Games

  • Preschool/Early Elementary
    • Doll house scene depiction
    • Puppets & stuffed animals
    • Sand tray therapy
  • Youth
    • Therapy ball
    • Shades of feelings
    • Card games
  • Youth & adults
    • Constructive use of punching bags/pillows
    • Topic starters
    • Questions games
    • Group sharing: Cards, web of feelings
  • …and more
Art with Children, Adolescents & Adults
  • ”I am” board
  • Colors of grief
  • Support circles
  • Memory peacock
  • Photo flower pot
  • Clay/Play-Doh
  • Photography
  • Memory boxes & stones
  • …and more!
Poetry, Writing & Music Interventions for All Ages
  • Bibliotherapy
  • Journaling
  • Poetry: “I am” exercise
  • Letter writing
  • Remembrance music
  • Song/rap writing
  • Sticky note regrets
  • …and more!
Memorialization Rituals
  • Candle-lighting
  • ”I remember” book
  • Online memorial page
  • Rice paper/balloon release
  • Memory patio stones
  • Tree planting
  • …and more!
Interactive Activities for Healing as a Family
  • Web of feelings
  • Labyrinth with reflection stations
  • Memorial service
  • ”Broken to whole”
  • Bibliotherapy for families
  • Holiday activities: Memory ornaments & stockings
  • …and more!
Grief & Loss Support Groups for Children, Adolescents & Adults
  • Grief camps for kids
  • Support group considerations
  • Family involvement
  • Curriculum & session topics (for individual therapy too!)

Target Audience

  • Social Workers
  • Counselors
  • Psychologists
  • Chaplains/Clergy
  • Marriage & Family Therapists
  • Nurses
  • Thanatologists
  • Case Managers
  • Physicians
  • Other Mental Health Professionals
  • Child Life Specialists

Copyright : 03/24/2022

Complex and Complicated Grief

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Differentiate complex grief from other forms of grief and it’s clinical implications.
  2. Apply narrative therapy and trauma-focused techniques to facilitate comprehensive treatment interventions.
  3. Integrate emotional, psychological, and relational aspects of grief, leading to more meaningful outcomes.

Target Audience

  • Psychiatrists   
  • Psychologists  
  • Counselors   
  • Social Workers  
  • Marriage and Family Therapists   
  • Nurses   
  • Physicians  
  • Other Mental Health Professionals 

Copyright : 04/25/2024

Clients Stuck in Pain

You know how frustrating it is when your client is “stuck” in their grief. Unable to process, unable to move forward or make any progress, it’s tough on both of you. That’s why Dr. Susan Zonnebelt-Smeenge has put together this engaging session, giving you the framework for connecting with your grieving clients and helping them along on their grief journey. You’ll learn new evaluation strategies, effective coping methods, and ways to reframe misinformed beliefs that will set your clients on a path to healing.  

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Assess and correct clients' misconceptions about grief with evidence-based knowledge to improve treatment outcomes 
  2. Educate clients on a research-supported grieving framework and its five key goals to improve client engagement 
  3. Facilitate the creation of personalized, healthy coping strategies for clients, put to practical use in-session 
  4. Assist clients in redefining their identity post-loss, to inform clinical treatment interventions and improve client level of functioning 
  5. Encourage clients to transform grief into gratitude through focused grief work to improve clinical outcomes 

Outline

What is “stuck?”   

  • When grief becomes complicated grief or Prolonged Grief Disorder 
  • Identifying what is keeping clients from progress in the grief process  
  • DSM-5 symptoms  
  • Myths, biases, or misinformation – irrational beliefs     
  • Reframing misinformed beliefs re healthy grieving: planting seeds – food for thought; historical perspective of what contributed to those beliefs. 

Significant ingredients to moving forward: 

  • Balancing perspective of difficulty vs possibility 
  • Healthy self-concept and self-esteem 
  • Effective coping- mechanisms to re-implement in present death situation 
  • Guiding clients towards a healthy understanding of the grief process     

Evidence-based behaviors essential for grieving 

  • Providing a tribute to honor the deceased’s life  
  • Dealing with all the deceased’s belongings (clothing, hobbies, interests, equipment, and memorabilia)  
  • Identify all the roles that the deceased played for your client and determine ways to compensate for the holes left  
  • Encourage the client to journal to identify feelings and create a pathway to resolve those of a negative, unfinished nature 
  • Strengthen ongoing supportive relationships  
  • Talk about the life and death of the deceased 
  • For persons who have been widowed: 
    • Assist him/her to see that the marriage has ended and eventually the wedding ring needs to be removed from the marriage finger and put somewhere else 
    • Assist the person grieving to see that she/he is a single person whose husband/wife has died 

Growth through loss because of the death 

  • Psychological growth related to SELF 
  • Emotional and spiritual growth related to SELF 
  • Outcomes of the grief journey 

Risks and Limitations 

Target Audience

  • Psychiatrists   
  • Psychologists  
  • Counselors   
  • Social Workers  
  • Marriage and Family Therapists    
  • Nurses   
  • Physicians  
  • Other Mental Health Professionals 

Copyright : 04/26/2024

Navigating Tomorrow’s Loss

Many mental health practitioners feel ill-prepared to meet the needs of their grieving clients, especially those experiencing anticipatory grief. This workshop will help you better understand the complexities of anticipatory grief counseling, including common barriers and practical considerations. The role of sustained hope at end-of-life will be explored, and strategies for engaging in sensitive conversations will be discussed. Practical anticipatory grief interventions and meaning-making activities will be provided. Participants will also gain tools to support clients after death losses, including preparing children and adults to attend memorial services and return to work or school. 

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Apply knowledge of anticipatory and preparatory grief to clients experiencing impending losses.  
  2. Employ creative legacy-building and anticipatory grief interventions for children, adolescents, adults, and families. 
  3. Facilitate developmentally appropriate conversations about illness, death, and loss to promote healthy coping. 

Outline

Introduction  

  • Overview of Anticipatory and Preparatory Grief  
  • Importance of Understanding Their Constructs  
  • Risks and Limitations 

Anticipatory and Preparatory Grief: Concepts and Applications  

  • Definition and Characteristics  
  • Application to Death and Non-Death Losses  

The Role of Sustained Hope at End-of-Life  .

  • Definition and Significance  
  • Impact on End-of-Life Experience  

Anticipatory Grief Reactions Across Age Groups  

  • Children, Adolescents, Adults  

Engaging in Sensitive Conversations About Anticipatory Grief  

  • Importance of Communication  
  • Tips for Discussing End-of-Life Matters  

Preparing for Memorial Services and Return to Normal Life  

  • Supporting Attendees B. Strategies for Reintegrating into Daily Life  

Legacy-Building Interventions and Meaning-Making  

  • Definition of Legacy-Building B. Techniques for Promoting Meaning-Making  

Conclusion  

  • Summary  
  • Application of Strategies in Practice 

Target Audience

  • Psychiatrists   
  • Psychologists  
  • Counselors   
  • Social Workers  
  • Marriage and Family Therapists   
  • Nurses   
  • Physicians  
  • Other Mental Health Professionals 

Copyright : 04/25/2024

Disenfranchised Grief

When it comes to treating grief in clients from diverse cultures, the last thing you want to do is minimize their experiences or avoid acknowledging them. Lack of support and validation can lead them to experience Disenfranchised Grief, which will only complicate treatment and prolong healing. Led by Tiffani Dilworth, LCPC, FT, this session will illuminate interactions and events connecting members of diverse subcultures and immigrants to Disenfranchised Grief and will give you an eclectic approach to identifying validating language to better help your clients. 

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Differentiate disenfranchised grief types to inform the clinician’s choice of treatment interventions 
  2. Examine common triggers of disenfranchised grief in diverse subcultures to improve treatment outcomes 
  3. Identify migratory grief experiences in immigrants as it relates to case conceptualization 
  4. Utilize validating language for disenfranchised grief symptom management in session 

Outline

Categories of Disenfranchised Grief 

Ways subcultures experience Disenfranchised Grief 

  • Minimizing 
  • Gaslighting 

Research on common Immigrant experiences that can lead to Migratory Grief

  • Immigrants vs. Refugees  
  • Acculturation     
  • Economic Uncertainty 
  • Ethnic Discrimination  
  • Resources-Mental Health Challenges     
  • Migratory Grief 
  • Migration Trauma  

An eclectic approach to identify validating language to combat Disenfranchised Grief 

The value of a healthy support system 

Target Audience

  • Psychiatrists   
  • Psychologists  
  • Counselors   
  • Social Workers  
  • Marriage and Family Therapists   
  • Addiction Counselors  
  • Nurses   
  • Physicians  
  • Other Mental Health Professionals 

Copyright : 04/26/2024

Grief and Trauma in the Bones: Mindfulness and Indigenous Ways of Healing

Experience Dr. Marianela Medrano, Ph.D., LPC, CPT, a writer and mindfulness teacher, as she walks you through innovative interventions that you can use to help your clients move from mourning into the spiritual experience of grieving and healing from Historical Trauma and Grief. Drawing on her expertise as a scholar, researcher, and psychotherapist, Dr. Medrano blends case studies with creative strategies for long-lasting transformation in your client's lives. Explore the interfacing relationship between historical/contemporary events, the ensuing trauma, and the impact that the erasure of indigenous ways of grieving via rituals has had on many peoples, and how to creatively and culturally appropriately facilitate the mourning process aborted for some. Unresolved Historical Grief is pernicious and travels intergenerationally; learn the power of ancient wisdom to heal personally and collectively. In other words, the long-range impact of unresolved grief among the BIPOC populations is a must-focus for consciously aware clinicians. 

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Investigate traditional healing practices suitable for individuals, groups, and families coping with grief and loss. 
  2. Develop strategies to counter narratives of extinction, erasure, and cultural/religious/racial superiority that contribute to historical grief and trauma. 
  3. Implement interventions aligned with the collective mindset of individuals and groups affected by historical grief and trauma, fostering a sense of empowerment and cultural affirmation. 

Outline

Understanding the Spiritual Nature of Grief and Mourning

  • Definition of grief as a spiritual outcome of mourning  
  • Importance of mourning in ritualizing feelings 
  • Risks and Limitations 

The Consequences of Restricted Mourning  

  • Explanation of how restricted mourning stifles grief  
  • Discussion on how unresolved grief can manifest as illness 

Integrating Compassion-Based Rituals into Grief Work  

  • Introduction to the concept of Karuna (compassion/mercy)  
  • Exploration of different compassion-based rituals  
  • How Karuna guides individuals through the process of loss and grief   

Conclusion  

  • Recap of the significance of mourning in spiritual grief work  
  • Emphasis on the importance of compassion-based rituals in facilitating the grieving process  
  • Encouragement to embrace the wisdom of grief as guided compassion practices 

Target Audience

  • Psychiatrists   
  • Psychologists  
  • Counselors   
  • Social Workers  
  • Marriage and Family Therapists   
  • Nurses   
  • Physicians  
  • Other Mental Health Professionals 

Copyright : 04/25/2024

Release, Reclaim, (Re)build

Your clients aren’t just grieving their loved one - they’re grieving an old way of life, parts of themselves they feel they’ve lost, and the roles and relationships they no longer have. It’s easy for them to become stuck between their old and new lives, so how do you show them a way forward with newfound values and sense of self? This session with grief specialist Alex Mammadyarov will teach you how to help clients understand the ways in which loss has shifted their sense of self and provide you with tangible tools to aid in identity realignment. Together, you will be able to realistically take stock of what has changed for them, what must be released, what can be reclaimed, and what can be (re)built as they embark on a life that honors who they are, who they have been, and who they will become. 

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Evaluate how clients’ identities have shifted after experiencing a loss to inform clinical treatment interventions.
  2. Assess whether changes to a client’s sense of self signify living in reaction or living with new intention as it relates to case conceptualization.
  3. Apply the 3 R’s of Identity Realignment (Release, Reclaim, (Re)build) in session with a client.

Outline

Understanding Identity Changes after Loss  

  • Learn how relationships and life roles factor into a client’s self-concept and how loss can unravel a sense of identity  
  • Attune to key statements and symptomatology that open the door to exploring identity change with a client 
  • Guide clients in reflection on identity with essential questions regarding how they define and view themselves as people before and after loss 

Discerning Living in Reaction vs. Living with Intention 

  • Learn about contrasting outcomes after loss 
  • A diminished sense of self, anxiety, and avoidance 
  • Posttraumatic growth and new values, beliefs, and desires  
  • Empower clients to begin non-judgmentally exploring how loss may be holding them back and also propelling them forward in new ways via in-between session journaling 

Me, Before & After Loss Exercise 

  • Learn how to guide clients in the use of a creative worksheet  
  • Clients can write or draw in and around two bodies, one representing the self before loss and one representing the self after loss  
  • Review and reflect together, noticing what has remained as stabilizing forces and what has shifted, what has been visible and what gone unseen by those around them 

Learning how to Release, Reclaim, (Re)build  

  • Through empathic dialogue and writing prompts, help clients re-work their sense of identity by discerning  
  • What feels truly gone and/or acceptable to let go of? 
  • Consider mourning practices for these parts of self 
  • What has remained or feels recoverable? 
  • Explore reconnecting to these parts of self through ritual 
  • What feels new and maybe even exciting? 
  • Collaborate on methods of self-discovery 

Risks and Limitations 

Target Audience

  • Psychiatrists   
  • Psychologists  
  • Counselors   
  • Social Workers  
  • Marriage and Family Therapists   
  • Nurses   
  • Physicians  
  • Other Mental Health Professionals 

 

Copyright : 04/26/2024

Grief on the Job

Working with clients in pain is never easy. The last several years have brought more pain and suffering to your practices than ever before, but let’s face it - you’re burned out, overwhelmed, and feel under-supported. This session with acclaimed grief expert Megan Devine will give you the tools you need to manage the impacts of emotional overwhelm, set boundaries and handle grief on the job as well as because of it.  

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Investigate the ethical aspects and potential positive and negative clinical impacts of self-disclosure as it relates to clinical practice.  
  2. Develop an action plan for managing the impact of emotional overwhelm and repetition in a clinical setting.  
  3. Determine personal and professional boundaries that help the clinician navigate personal and professional losses to alleviate symptoms of grief. 

 

Outline

Repeated exposure to loss 

  • Strategies for handling overwhelm, repetition, and frustration 

Creating and maintaining boundaries  

  • Boundary setting with clients in-session 
  • How to set boundaries with people outside your office 

Systemic failure and the limits of infrastructure 

  • How the system doesn’t meet our human needs 
  • Tools for emotional work  

Friction with the outside world 

  • Building support with people who don’t (or won’t) understand 

The ethics of self-disclosure 

  • Guidelines 
  • Handling missteps 
  • Risks and limitations

Target Audience

  • Psychiatrists   
  • Psychologists  
  • Counselors   
  • Social Workers  
  • Marriage and Family Therapists   
  • Addiction Counselors  
  • Nurses   
  • Physicians  
  • Other Mental Health Professionals 

Copyright : 04/26/2024

Flowing with Grief

Copyright : 04/25/2024

Grief After Suicide: Transition Survivors from “Why?” to “What’s Next?”

Suicide survivors don’t come to you because they’re interested in growth. They don’t want to explore new possibilities. They just want to relieve the pain, ease the misery, and make sense of the death. But there’s no life in only asking why. On many levels, there will be no closure.  

As clinicians, we can’t help survivors change unless we challenge them to step out and take risks. It’s critical to tap into the client’s potential for resiliency, open them to new possibilities, and walk with them along the path to post-traumatic growth.  

Join Rita Schulte, licensed professional counselor, radio host, author, and suicide survivor to get the skills and strategies you need to transition grieving clients who’ve lost loved ones to suicide from “why?” to “what’s next?”  
 

Program Information

Objectives

  1. Analyze the treatment implications of the unique challenges faced by grieving suicide survivors.
  2. Determine how the meaning clients attach to suicide can impede recovery.
  3. Apply a strengths-based approach to tap into suicide survivors’ potential for resiliency.
  4. Utilize narrative techniques to help suicide survivors make meaning following suicide loss.

Outline

The unique challenges of suicide survivors

  • A strengths-based approach to build resiliency and plant the seeds of possibility
  • Techniques to transform the survivor’s relationship with the deceased
  • Narratives to reframe the meaning attached to the suicide
  • Strategies to help clients access and reclaim compassion

Target Audience

  • Counselors 
  • Social Workers 
  • Marriage and Family Therapists 
  • Psychologists 
  • Psychiatrists 
  • School Counselors 
  • School Psychologists 
  • School Social Workers 
  • Case Managers 
  • Addiction Counselors 
  • Pastoral Counselors 
  • Chaplains/Clergy 
  • Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners 
  • Mental Health Nurses 
  • Thanatologists 

Copyright : 04/30/2021