About this course

Learning Objectives

• Select appropriate interventions for grief based on evidence-informed techniques.
• Describe the foundational tools to employ the most up to date and evidence-informed grief counseling and therapy techniques.
• Identify specific ‘stuck points’ common in grief and practice tools and interventions appropriate to addresses these challenges.
• Identify intersections of and disjunctions between grief responses and trauma responses, including the impact of trauma responses on the on the bereavement process and on effective grief counseling.

Learning Levels

• Introductory

Course Instructor(s)

• 

  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 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.

Disclosure

References

• Jankauskaite, G., O’Brien, K. M., & Yang, N. (2021). Assessing knowledge and predicting grief counseling skills among university counseling center therapists. The Counseling Psychologist, 49(3), 458-484. https://doi.org/10.1177/001100002098352
• Blueford, J. M., Diambra, J. F., & Wheat, L. S. (2022). Counselor preparedness to counsel grieving clients: Insights and implications. Death Studies, 46(10), 2413-2423. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2021.1956644
• Hajebi, A., Rasoulian, M., Fathi, M., Tiyuri, A., Abbasinejad, M., Naserbakht, M., ... & Khademoreza, N. (2022). Randomized controlled trial for the efficacy of three versus five sessions of grief counseling on the psychological aspects following COVID-19 bereavement: A study protocol. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, 1047448. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1047448
• Frumkin, M. R., & Robinaugh, D. J. (2017). Grief and Post-Traumatic Stress Following Bereavement. Clinical Handbook of Bereavement and Grief Reactions, 19–44. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-65241-2_2
• Kristensen, P., Weisæth, L., & Heir, T. (2012). Bereavement and mental health after sudden and violent losses: A review. Psychiatry: Interpersonal & Biological Processes, 75(1), 76-97. https://doi.org/10.1521/psyc.2012.75.1.76
• Calhoun, L. G., Tedeschi, R. G., Cann, A., & Hanks, E. A. (2010). Positive Outcomes Following Bereavement: Paths to Posttraumatic Growth. Psychologica Belgica, 50(1-2), 125. doi: 10.5334/pb-50-1-2-125
• Michael, C., & Cooper, M. (2013). Post-traumatic growth following bereavement: A systematic review of the literature. Counselling Psychology Review, 28(4), 18–33.
• Doka, K. J. (2017). Grief is a journey: finding your path through loss. New York: Atria Paperback.
• Schapiro, D., Briggs, A., Trottier, D. G., Hormadaly, M., Klingensmith, D., Gibbons, K., ... & Dugan, K. (2017). Complicated Grief, Attachment, and Art Therapy: Theory, Treatment, and 14 Ready-to-Use Protocols. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
• Worden, J. W. (2018). Grief counseling and grief therapy: A handbook for the mental health practitioner. springer publishing Company.
• Neimeyer, R. A. (Ed.). (2015). Techniques of grief therapy: Assessment and intervention. Routledge.
• Kosminsky, P. S., & Jordan, J. R. (2016). Attachment-informed grief therapy: The clinician’s guide to foundations and applications. Routledge.
• Regehr, C., & Sussman, T. (2004). intersections between grief and trauma: Toward an empirically based model for treating traumatic grief. Brief Treatment & Crisis Intervention, 4(3).