Day 1
Assessment of Grieving Clients:
Uncover Grief Intensity, Depression, Substance Use and Suicidal Ideation
- Grief intensity scale
- Hogan grief reaction checklist
- Assessment to uncover trauma, depression, substance use and anxiety
- QPR and S-SSRS to assess for suicidal ideation or substance use
- Isolation, sleep and nutrition concerns for grieving clients
Assessment and Treatment of Prolonged Grief Disorder
- How to diagnose using the DSM-5TR™
- Assessment resources
- Complicated Grief Treatment Model
- Meaning Reconstruction
Grief Therapy and Counseling in Action:
Clinical Tools and Treatment Approaches to Facilitate Healthy Grieving
- Grief counseling vs. grief treatment – what’s the difference?
- CBT techniques for guilt, blame and other maladaptive cognitions following loss
- Mindfulness interventions for anticipatory grief and anxiety symptoms
- Narrative approaches to process grief by putting words to the pain
- Exercises to help clients better face uncertainty
- Creative tools to support emotional regulation and expression
- Tools to manage regret and facilitate forgiveness and reconciliation
- Alternative ways to honor deceased loved ones and find closure
- How to make virtual sessions as effective as in-person ones
Day 2
Non-Death and Abstract Losses:
How to Effectively Work with Clients Who’ve Experienced “Living Losses”
- Abstract losses – how to work with loss of connection, routine, normalcy and identity
- Divorce
- Substance use
- Natural disasters
- Life-limiting and mental illness
- Developmental disabilities
- Military or incarceration
- Symbolic Losses
The Traumatic Grief Treatment Toolkit:
Build Clients’ Resiliency and Move Them Toward Post-Traumatic Growth
- Assess for PTSD symptoms
- Emotional regulation techniques for clients who’ve had a traumatic loss
- DBT techniques to decrease avoidance and manage suicidal ideation
- CBT coping skills for traumatic memories and rumination
- Clinical strategies to reduce fear responses
- How to work with the unique challenges of suicide survivors
- Exercises to help clients overcome guilt and shame
- Employing a strengths-based approach to build resiliency
The Clinician’s Guide to Grief and Loss Groups:
How to Successfully Structure and Facilitate Grief Support or Treatment Groups
- Differences between
- Psychoeducational groups or therapeutic process groups
- Peer or clinician led groups
- Loss-specific or general grief groups
- Open and closed groups
- Participant screening
- Keys to effective facilitation
- Program evaluation
Day 3
Grief Work with Clients of Diverse Race, Backgrounds, Cultures and Beliefs
- How culture impacts length of mourning and continuing relationships with the deceased
- Spiritual impacts on grief
- How inequalities in race, gender, sexual orientation and age impact support of grief and loss
- Personal assessment activity
- Cultural competence vs. culturally and difference intentioned/aware practice
- Cultural & difference-focused engagement ideas and strategies
Ethical Considerations in Grief Counseling and Treatment
- Boundaries of professional competence
- Research and treatment risks
- Working with the terminally ill, minors, families and end-of-life decisions
- Vicarious trauma, compassion, fatigue and self-care


