Our courses
Are you interested in growing your grief-sensitivity?
The Grief-Sensitive Healthcare Project designs and delivers trainings, workshops, and panels for healthcare professionals across the United States, equipping them with knowledge and skills so they may provide high-quality and sensitive care to grieving families.
Our courses are delivered online by members of the Grief-Sensitive Healthcare Project team. The majority of courses are 60-90 minutes and include interactive and reflective opportunities. If you have a number of people requiring training, we are happy to arrange a course specifically for your organization, either online or in person.
Understanding loss, grief, & bereavement
- Develop an understanding of the key theories and frameworks of grief and loss and to develop an awareness of their application across the lifespan, and across various causes of death
- Develop an understanding of the importance of bereavement support and an awareness of the evidence base that underpins this
- Recognize the impact on professionals of working in the field of loss and bereavement, and to consider how to further develop self-awareness and resilience
Pregnancy loss & death of a baby
- Explore the impact that pregnancy loss and the death of a baby can have on the family
- Recognize physical and emotional reactions to grief
- Gain an understanding of what parents may need when faced with the death of their baby
- Develop skills for speaking with parents facing the loss of a pregnancy or infant
- Build awareness of current statistics, guidelines, research, and initiatives around the loss of a baby
- Relate theories of grief to practices in the workplace
- Explore and develop self-awareness in relation to loss, grief, and bereavement
- Explore ways to support ourselves and our colleagues
- Gain information about support organizations and resources available locally and nationally
Loss & grief in the neonatal environment
- Develop an understanding of the application of models of loss and grief to parents where a baby is in the neonatal intensive care unit
- Increase awareness of the emotional responses of parents anticipating potential death, or anticipating the loss of an imagined future
- Develop greater skill and confidence in communicating with parents in these situations and increase awareness of the impact of how we communicate
- Increase awareness of the effect on us when working with families and to explore ways of supporting ourselves
- Gain information support organizations and resources available locally and nationally
When a child dies
- Explore the impact that a child’s death can have on the family
- Recognize physical and emotional reactions to grief
- Gain an understanding of what caregivers may need when faced with the death of their child
- Build awareness of current statistics, guidelines, research, and initiatives around child death
- Explore and discuss various considerations around communicating with a dying child and their family
- Develop skills for communicating with a dying child and their family
- Relate theories of grief to practices in the workplace
- Develop self-awareness in relation to loss, grief, and bereavement
- Explore ways to support ourselves and our colleagues
- Gain information about support organizations and resources available locally and nationally
Supporting families with bereaved infants & young children
- Gain an understanding of how infants, toddlers, and preschoolers respond to loss, death, and bereavement.
- Gain an understanding of the theories of attachment, separation, loss, and mourning in relation to babies and younger children
- Learn practical strategies and gain greater confidence in supporting bereaved infants and young children within the family context
- Gain awareness of information and resources that can support bereaved families
- Explore ways to look after ourselves and our colleagues
- Gain information support organizations and resources available locally and nationally
Supporting families with school-age children
- Gain an understanding of how school-age children respond to loss, death, and bereavement.
- Gain an understanding of the theories of attachment, separation, loss, and mourning in relation to school-age children
- Learn practical strategies and gain greater confidence in supporting bereaved infants and young children within the family context
- Gain awareness of information and resources that can support bereaved families
- Explore ways to look after ourselves and our colleagues
- Gain information support organizations and resources available locally and nationally
Grief in adolescence
- Explore the world of the teenager and gain more understanding of their attachment behaviors and social lives
- Recognize the needs of bereaved teenagers
- Understand the impact of our own experiences— as teenagers, and of loss— on our comfort levels and the care we provide to grieving teenagers
- Identify ways to support caregivers in their efforts to encourage emotional literacy in teenagers
- Gain information about support organizations and resources available locally and nationally
Grief in children on the autism spectrum or with additional needs
- Compare how grief is expressed in children with and without special needs
- Recognize grief reactions exhibited by bereaved children with special needs
- Develop practical skills and learn strategies for communicating with children with special needs about death and dying
- Gain information about support organizations and resources available locally and nationally
Grief-sensitive care of families bereaved by suicide
- Increase awareness of the additional challenges faced by children, young people and families bereaved by suicide
- Develop greater confidence in providing support to, and communicating with, children, young people and families bereaved by suicide
- Increase awareness of the effect on us when working with families bereaved in traumatic circumstances and to explore ways of supporting ourselves
- Gain information about support organizations and resources available locally and nationally
Supporting families through traumatic bereavement
- Define trauma and what constitutes traumatic bereavement
- Increase understanding of the nature of traumatic bereavement
- Develop greater confidence in identifying children and young people who may require additional support because of their response to a traumatic loss
- Develop greater awareness of the initial support that can be helpful in response to trauma and what is required if traumatic responses are more persistent.
- Build awareness of the impact of trauma on grieving
- Gain information about support organizations and resources available locally and nationally
Grief in families with children experiencing complex medical needs and life-limiting conditions
- Develop an understanding of the application of models of loss and grief to parents when a child has complex medical needs, has a terminal condition, or is not expected to live
- Increase awareness of the variety of emotional responses experienced by parents in these situations
- Develop greater confidence in communicating with parents in these situations and to increase awareness of the impact of how we communicate
- Increase awareness of the effect on us when working with families and to explore ways of supporting ourselves
- Gain information about support organizations and resources available locally and nationally
Culture, family, and grief
- Develop awareness of one’s own culture and its impact on attitudes toward loss, grief, and bereavement
- Increase awareness around cultural norms regarding death and dying
- Enhance awareness around cultural norms of emotional expression
- Foster a stance of cultural humility when working with bereaved families of varying backgrounds
The emotional impact of grief & loss on healthcare professionals
- Increase understanding of the potential emotional, cognitive, and behavioral impacts we may experience when working directly with dying children and parents, and interacting with grieving families
- Reflect and build insight about how work-related experiences of death and loss can affect you, both personally and professionally
- Learn about strategies for maintaining your resilience and wellbeing
- Gain information about support organizations and resources available to healthcare professionals who work directly with dying children and parents, locally and nationally