Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Tools for Working With Grief

Recordings and session materials will be available on your attendee dashboard for 6 months after the session. If you are interested in this workshop to earn CEs but cannot attend the live session, please consider registering for one of our self paced CE courses. View all our self paced courses by clicking "All Courses" tab at the top this page.

This 3-hour session provides mental health therapists with a comprehensive exploration of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as a powerful framework for supporting grieving clients. Therapists will gain a deeper understanding of ACT’s core princip...Read moreles, including psychological flexibility and the six processes that guide adaptive behavior and emotional resilience.

Through this training, participants will:

Learn the Foundations of ACT: Understand the concept of psychological flexibility, how ACT differs from traditional therapeutic approaches, and how its principles align with the complexities of grief.
Explore ACT Processes in Grief Work: Develop practical skills to help clients embrace difficult emotions, distance themselves from unhelpful thoughts, and stay grounded in the present moment.
Integrate Advanced Techniques: Delve into values clarification and committed action, helping clients reconnect with what matters most and take meaningful steps forward despite their grief.
Apply ACT Tools to practice using evidence-based tools and techniques.

This session is designed for professionals seeking actionable strategies to enhance their practice and support clients navigating the complexities of grief. By the end of the session, attendees will feel equipped with adaptable tools to foster emotional resilience, promote values-driven living, and guide clients toward meaningful healing after loss. Whether you are new to ACT or looking to deepen your existing skills, this session offers a rich blend of theoretical insight and practical application tailored to grief work. Less...

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Learning Objectives

  • Name the six core processes of ACT and describe how they are relevant to grief counseling.
  • Integrate evidence-informed ACT concepts into grief counseling, assessing which concepts have particular relevance to various types of loss and grief.
  • Apply ACT mindfulness and defusion tools as antidotes to grief-related rumination, hopelessness and catastrophising.
  • Work flexibly with ACT values tools to help clients with restoration-oriented coping.
  • Effectively support clients in managing intense emotional pain using ACT techniques, such as grounding, fostering acceptance, and cultivating self-compassion.

Learning Levels

  • Introductory
  • Intermediate

Thursday, May 08, 2025

Live Interactive Webinar

12:00 PM EDT - 03:15 PM EDT

Register for this Webinar
EARN 3 CE Credit Hours

About the speakers

Eleanor Haley, MS

Eleanor Haley, MS

Eleanor Haley, MS is co-founder of What’s Your Grief, one of the country’s largest online grief and bereavement support communities which is accessed by over 3 million grievers every year. With a background in counseling psychology, Eleanor has over 15 years of expertise in grief, with expertise in working with families who have experienced traumatic and unexpected losses. She is co-author of the book What's Your Grief: Lists to Help You Through Any Loss and has co-authored 15 grief publications used in hospitals, hospices, funeral homes, and OPOs across the US and Canada. She has experience teaching psychology courses at the college level and is passionate about innovative teaching methods, technologies, and pedagogical approaches to enhance grief education and support. She has been interviewed as a grief expert for media outlets including NPR, Washington Post, The New York Times, USNews, and Huffington Post.
Litsa Williams MA, LCSW-C

Litsa Williams MA, LCSW-C

Litsa Williams, MA, LCSW-C is the co-founder of the online grief organization What’s Your Grief. She’s a grief therapist with 15 years of experience, with expertise in sudden and traumatic loss as well as ambiguous grief. Drawing on personal and professional experience with grief, WYG was built as a resource offering concrete, practical, creative, down-to-earth, and relatable support, founded on the values of psychoeducation and creative coping. It has grown to serve more than 3 million visitors each year. Litsa received her master's degree in Clinical Social Work from the University of Maryland School of Social Work, as well as a master’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Warwick (UK). She has been interviewed as a grief expert for the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, NPR, and New York Times. She co-authored the 2022 book What's Your Grief: Lists to Help You Through Any Loss.

Agenda


12:00 PM - Welcome and Overview
  • Introduction to session goals
  • ACT as a framework for grief work
  • Overview of the schedule and key objectives
12:15 PM - Foundations of ACT
  • Core principles of ACT: Psychological flexibility and the six core processes (10 min)
  • How ACT differs from traditional therapeutic approaches (10 min)
12:35 PM - Applying ACT to Grie
  • Acceptance: Embracing difficult emotions (15 min)
  • The role of acceptance in grief
  • Practical exercises, including the "Dropping Anchor" technique
  • Defusion: Creating distance from distressing thoughts (15 min)
  • Strategies for unhooking from unhelpful thoughts
  • Tools for thought defusion
1:05 PM - Advanced ACT Techniques
  • Present Moment Awareness: Engaging with the here and now 
  • Self-as-Context: Building awareness of the observing self
1:30 PM - 1:45 PM - Break

1:45 PM - Advanced ACT Techniques Continued
  • Values Clarification: Identifying and reconnecting with life directions 
2:00 PM - Guided Application of ACT Tools
  • Hands-on practice with ACT tools using grief-focused scenarios
  • Interactive exercises on acceptance and defusion
  • Applying values-based actions in grief work
2:30 PM - Committed Action
  • Moving forward with intention and values-guided behavior (20 min)
  • Real-life examples and practice exercises
2:50 PM - Q&A and Group Discussion
  • Addressing participant questions about applying ACT tools (15 min)
  • Group reflections and feedback
3:10 PM - Closing Remarks
  • Resources for continued learning and practice

CE Information - Earn 3 CE Credit Hours

CE Approvals

Joint Accreditation
Joint Accreditation
In support of improving patient care, CE Learning Systems is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
American Psychological Association
Continuing Education (CE) credits for psychologists are provided through the co-sponsorship of the American Psychological Association (APA) Office of Continuing Education in Psychology (CEP). The APA CEP office maintains responsibility for the content of the programs.
Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners
What's Your Grief is authorized by the Board of Social Work Examiners in Maryland to sponsor social work continuing education learning activities and maintains full responsibility for this program. This training qualifies for 3 Category I continuing education units.
Maryland State Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists
This program/activity has been approved by the Maryland State Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists to satisfy Category A continuing education requirements
Minnesota Board of Social Work
What's Your Gref is an active Minnesota Board of Social Work approved continuing education provider CEP-2480
New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work
CE Learning Systems SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0060.
New York Education Department for Licensed Mental Health Counselors
CE Learning Systems, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0072.
New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology
CE Learning Systems dba CE-Credit.com & AddictionCounselorCE.com is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0016.
New York State Education Department's State Board for Marriage and Family Therapy
CE Learning Systems dba CE-Credit.com & AddictionCounselorCE.com is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Marriage and Family Therapy as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0045.

CE Process Info

Each professional is responsible for the individual requirements as stipulated by his/her licensing agency. Please contact your individual licensing board/regulatory agency to review continuing education requirements for licensure renewal. Please note: You must attend "live" (in real-time) for the duration of the training to earn CE credits.

Before the event, you will receive an email from CE-Go with access to the virtual event. After the event, you will receive access to your evaluation and continuing education certificate via a personalized "attendee dashboard" link, hosted on the CE-Go website. This link and access to the virtual event will be sent to the email account you used to register for the event.

Upon accessing the CE-Go "attendee dashboard", you will be able to:

  • Complete evaluation forms for the event
  • Download your continuing education certificate in a PDF format

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the CE-Go platform, please contact CE-Go at 888-498-5578 or by email at support@ce-go.com Please Note: Emails for this event will come from "support@ce-go.com".

If you have any continuing education related questions, please contact your event organizer.

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Disclosure

DISCLOSURE OF RELEVANT FINANCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
CE Learning Systems adheres to the ACCME’s Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Medical Education. Any individuals in a position to control the content of a CE activity ― including faculty, planners, reviewers, or others ― are required to disclose all relevant financial relationships with ineligible entities (formerly known as commercial interests).

The following relevant financial relationships have been disclosed by this activity’s planners, faculty, and the reviewer:


PLANNERS AND REVIEWER
The planners of this activity have reported that they have no relevant financial relationships.

FACULTY
The faculty of this activity have reported that they have no relevant financial relationships.