Bereavement Studies Certificate

Examines societal and personal attitudes on death, dying, and bereavement. A major focus will be on loss and grief, including normal and abnormal grieving patterns in both adults and children. Basic skills for supporting the bereaved will be discussed as well as community resources identified.

Designed to empower participants to ease the dying process by providing emotional and spiritual support to both patient and family, guiding them in anticipatory grieving, reconciliation, and celebration.

An exploration of the soulful place of feelings, imagination, and connection relative to the experience of death and dying. Participants will imagine their own deaths as well as past losses and learn the hermetic art of assisting the self and others in soulful living and dying.

An experiential survey of tools of spiritual care designed to facilitate the healing of wounds of grief and loss as well as enhancing the life and work of the practitioner. Ritual, meditation, prayer, dreamwork, music, the use of the expressive arts and bodywork are among the practices to be explored.

Children --- the forgotten mourners. How does our society support children in their grief? The course will examine how adults, including parents, teachers, and health care professionals can talk to children about death and loss in general. This study of children's grief will include an examination of the developmental stages and children's reactions to death. Specific techniques and rituals designed for children will be explored and discussed.

A study of the various types of bereavement support groups, including the basics of starting and facilitating a group. Group process and dynamics will be examined as well as group leadership. Training and personal qualifications of facilitators will be discussed. Participation in this course does not automatically qualify one to facilitate groups.

Designed to address the needs of mourners whose losses are not socially validated. Topics to be discussed will include perinatal deaths, abortion, homosexuality, extra-marital affairs, former spouses, and the death of pets. Techniques of assessment and support as well as community resources will be presented.

A presentation of the fundamental concepts of traumatic grief, including primary and secondary losses, physical and psycho-spiritual reactions to trauma, common problems encountered when working with individuals in crisis, assessment skills, and appropriate interventions.

The arts have historically been used throughout the world to help people heal from loss and suffering. This course will explore the use of expressive arts in the bereavement process. It will give participants an opportunity to experience how writing, drawing, movement, storytelling, and other artistic modalities can be incorporated into grief work. The application of these modalities to the tasks of grief will be addressed throughout the course.

Designed for personal and professional life enhancement, this course will focus on spirituality as an essential component of health, well-being and a meaningful life.  Students will study the human energy system, identify and release negative energies, explore their own spirituality and experience a variety of meditative and prayer practices, learn to access imagination, the creative centers of the brain and their own spiritual power, practice assessment and stress reduction techniques, create a personal spiritual plan of care, and receive training in spiritual ministry as it related to caring for others.