3-Day Advanced Grief Counseling Certification Course: Interventions to Move Clients Toward Healthy Grieving, Growth and Meaning After Loss

CPD

Handouts

Faculty

Diana Sebzda, LPC, FT Related seminars and products

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Diana Sebzda, LPC, FT, is the director of bereavement at the Joseph T. Quinlan Bereavement Center where she provides both individual counseling and support groups for those coping with grief, anticipatory grief, and pet loss.

In addition to 17 years of grief counseling experience, Diana also has over 15 years of experience as a veterinary technician where she’s witnessed the impacts of pet loss firsthand.

Diana has been published in Healthy Pet Magazine and is a Fellow in Thanatology (FT) with the Association for Death Education and Counseling (where she is co-chair of their Pet Loss Networking Group). She is also a member of the Traumatic Loss Coalition of New Jersey, the American Counseling Association, and the Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement. Diana earned her MA degree in Applied Clinical Psychology from William Patterson University.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Diana Sebzda is a counselor with BetterHelp.com. She receives compensation as a speaker and consultant. Diana Sebzda receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Diana Sebzda is a member of the Association for Death Education and Counseling.

Christina Zampitella, PsyD, FT Related seminars and products

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Christina Zampitella, PsyD, FT, is a licensed clinical psychologist and a Fellow of Thanatology through the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC). She is the founder and owner of The Center for Grief and Trauma Therapy, co-owner and Director of Clinical Services at Integrative Psychology Group, and a professional speaker. She teaches in undergraduate and graduate level psychology programs for several universities, focusing her courses and publications on death, loss, grief, and trauma. She served as the chair for the Continuing Education Committee for the San Diego Psychological Association from 2007-2009 and the Delaware Psychological Association from 2018-1019. Dr. Zampitella specializes in death, loss, bereavement, integrative psychology, and nature-based therapy. She is the former resident psychologist on Fox 5 News in San Diego and often appeared on NBC News in California and Philadelphia. She has been featured in Elle magazine, BuzzFeed, Washington Post, and The Huffington Post.
 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Christina Zampitella is the owner of The Center for Grief and Trauma Therapy and co-owner of Integrative Psychology Group and has an employment relationship with Goldey-Beacom College and National University. She receives a speaking honorarium from Tatra Training, TZK Seminars, StateServe, Muscogee (Creek) Nation Department of Health, Nashville Area Association of Christian Counselors. Christina Zampitella is the founder and host of Phoenix Rising with Dr. Z. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Christina Zampitella serves on the advisory committee for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, is on the exam writing committee for the Association for Death Education and Counseling and is an advisory board member for the National University Integrative Psychology Program. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, Delaware Psychological Association, and the American Federation for Suicide Prevention.

Objectives

1. Investigate the clinical implications of distinctions between adult and youth responses to loss.
2. Assess for trauma, depression, substance use and anxiety in grieving clients.
3. Utilize two assessment measures for gathering grief responses.
4. Distinguish how the experiences created by different types of loss impact assessment and treatment planning.
5. Analyze the impact of death on the family system and the corresponding effects on treatment.
6. Evaluate contemporary models of bereavement as they relate to case conceptualization for grief therapy.
7. Asses the boundaries of professional competence in grief work and know when to refer out.
8. Investigate factors that can influence the grief process including the type of loss and support system.
9. Use the DSM-5 to diagnose/identify Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder.
10. Employ emotional regulation techniques to help calm clients who’ve experienced a traumatic loss.
11. Implement a bereavement plan of care for identified Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder.
12. Use CBT techniques to help bereaved clients manage guilt, blame and other maladaptive cognitions following loss.
13. Apply narrative approaches to help clients construct meaning following loss.
14. Utilize mindfulness interventions to reduce anxiety symptoms in clients with anticipatory grief.
15. Evaluate the clinical implications of cultural beliefs surrounding mourning and continuing relationships with the deceased.
16. Utilize best practices to structure and facilitate grief support or treatment groups.
17. Investigate ethical considerations to ensure proper management of terminally ill clients, minors, families an end-of-life decisions.
18. Develop strategies for self-care when working with grieving clients.
19. Analyze continuing attachment bonds and their relevance to clinical practice with bereaved clients across the lifespan.

Outline

The Process of Death, Dying, and Mourning

Grief and Loss Across Developmental and Life Stages

• Distinctions between adult and youth responses to loss
• Common grief reactions and coping mechanisms
• Factors for assessing and counselling kids and teens at schools
• The elderly – working with multiple losses, fewer supports and/or physical health issues
• Ethics with minors, families, and the terminally ill

Types of Grief:
Implications for Counselling and Treatment

• Normal grief and acute reactions
• Complicated or prolonged grief
• Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder
• Ambiguous grief in the face of changes in the living
• Chronic grief
• Traumatic grief following sudden or violent loss
• Anticipatory and disenfranchised grief
• Delayed, inhibited, abbreviated other types of commonly overlooked grief

The Impact of Loss on the Family System

• Impact on adult caregivers and siblings
• Family adaptation to loss
• Changing the family narrative
• Intergenerational effect of grief and trauma

Contemporary Models of Bereavement for Grief Therapy

Assessment of Grieving Clients:
Uncover Trauma, Depression, Substance Use, Suicidal Ideation, and More

• Intakes and gathering information
• Two assessment measures for gathering grief responses
• Assessment for depression, PTSD, trauma, substance use, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and violence

Differential Diagnosis

• Differential diagnosis between uncomplicated and complicated grief
• Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder
• Differential using the DSM-5™ and upcoming DSM5-TR

Treatment Planning for Uncomplicated and Complicated Grief

• Uncomplicated grief treatment planning
  • Grief counselling vs. grief therapy
  • Specific objectives based on the client’s grieving process
• Complicated Grief Therapy
  • Narrative Reconstruction Therapy for complicated grief
  • Integrative Cognitive-Behavioural Treatment for complicated grief
    • Specific objectives for complicated grief

Interventions and Treatment Approaches to Facilitate Healthy Grieving

• Narrative and somatic techniques
• Expressive arts techniques – music, writing, art, and more
• Interventions for regret, forgiveness, shame, and guilt
• Continued bonds and therapeutic bereavement rituals
• Nature-based therapy
• Systematic desensitization and flooding to reduce avoidance
• EMDR for complicated grief and traumatic loss

Non-Death and Abstract Losses:
How to Effectively Work with Clients Who’ve Experienced “Living Losses”

• End of relationship
• Chronic illness and terminal illness
• Deployment, job and/or retirement
• Infertility, independence, and identity
• Safety, meaning, and purpose
• Spirituality and religion
• Potential futures

Build Clients’ Resiliency and Move Them Toward Post-Traumatic Growth

• Defining resiliency and post-traumatic growth
• Employing a client’s strengths
• Considerations to foster growth with traumatic and suicide loss

The Clinician’s Guide to Grief and Loss Groups:
How to Successfully Structure and Facilitate Grief Support or Treatment Groups

• Differences between psychoeducational and therapeutic groups
• Open vs. closed groups
• Homogeneous vs. heterogeneous groups
• Peer vs. clinician led
• Participant screening and keys to effective facilitation

Grief Work with Clients of Diverse Race, Backgrounds, Cultures, and Beliefs

• Cultural competency vs. culturally and difference intentioned/aware practice
• Disenfranchised grief
• How culture impacts mourning, rituals, expectation, and continued bonds
• Working with spiritual and religious differences between clinician and client

Ethical Considerations in Grief Counselling and Treatment

• Boundaries of professional competence and when to refer out
• Research and treatment risks
• Compassion fatigue
• Self-care as an ethical imperative

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Psychiatrists
• Addiction Counselors
• Nurse Practitioners
• Mental Health Nurses
• Pastoral Counselors
• Chaplains/Clergy
• Thanatologists
• Physicians