About Us
The Grief-Sensitive Healthcare Project
The Grief-Sensitive Healthcare Project (GSHP) is a multimodal learning initiative designed to increase grief literacy within the U.S. healthcare system.
Developed by the Yale Child Study Center in partnership with the New York Life Foundation and Child Bereavement UK, the GSHP provides free education and resources to support healthcare professionals in responding to grief with greater understanding, compassion, and confidence while also promoting professional well-being.
Our Mission
The Grief-Sensitive Healthcare Project (GSHP) supports healthcare professionals in recognizing and responding to grief in ways that are informed, compassionate, and grounded in contemporary understandings of loss.
Through education, collaboration, and evidence-informed resources, the GSHP works to create healthcare environments where grief and loss are recognized as part of the human experience and where patients, care partners, and healthcare professionals feel acknowledged, respected, and supported.
Our Approach
Grief-sensitive healthcare builds on approaches to care rather than replacing them.
Grounded in mentalization and supported by grief literacy, the GSHP integrates essential care frameworks, including culturally responsive care, patient-centered care, and trauma-informed care, to support healthcare professionals in responding to the grief experiences of patients, care partners, and colleagues, while also navigating their own experiences of loss and grief.
“You're missing a whole part of the human experience if you're not willing to incorporate grief into your practice.”
Guiding Principles
Grief Sensitivity is a Core Competency
Grief literacy is essential across all healthcare settings, not only in high-exposure specialties. Loss shapes health, decision-making, and engagement in care in many contexts, making grief-sensitive skills a core part of effective practice.
Caregivers Need Care
Providing grief-sensitive care includes attention to the emotional experiences of healthcare professionals themselves. Reflection and support can strengthen well-being and sustain compassionate, effective practice.
Grief is a Universal, Natural, Healthy Human Experience
Grief is a natural response to loss that most people will experience at some point in life. Because healthcare professionals both support grieving patients and may carry their own losses, understanding grief-sensitive care is an important part of caring for others and for oneself.
Developing an understanding of grief makes you a better person as well as a better physician.
Start Building Grief-Sensitive Skills
The GSHP offers a range of free, evidence-informed tools to support healthcare professionals in providing grief-sensitive care.
