Grief Support Certification Training

Each person who interacts effectively with a dying or grieving person cannot leave emotionally and spiritually untouched and unchanged in some way. While there are immense benefits in working with a dying person and in offering support to the griever, there are also numerous stresses. The benefits of self care are many. When we care well for the other and for ourselves, we are more able to look back and remember the joy, the intimacy and the privilege it was to help, to love, and to care, and in turn to be able to give the same to the next person with who we interact.

Copyright Dr. Jane A. Simington, PH. D., Taking Flight International Corporation.

 

About Change, Loss and Grief

 

We live in a world of change.

With every change there are losses. Losses are grieved. The extent of grieving depends on the significance of the losses as well as the impact the changes and losses have had on our daily living. This can be a very pain-filled process.

Changes can developmental, such as sending our youngest child off to college, or feeling the emptiness following retirement.

Changes can be situational, such as those that we face following a death, separation or divorce, a job loss, relocation, a house fire, a burglary, or the robbing of the sense-of-self that almost always follows an act of sexual, physical, or emotional violence.

Some changes are chosen; others are imposed.

Imposed changes rob us of control. The degree of control we have over any situation influences adjustment. The losses associated with imposed change, such as results from tragic or off-time deaths are generally more difficult to accept and adjust to than are the losses that happen as a result of the changes that we are able to exert some control over. Yet, regardless of the origin or the degree of control we have, all changes bring endings. Endings mean closures, saying goodbyes. The wounds left by what has been ripped from us can be very, very deep. Although the significance of a loss and the long-term effects are unique to each, the impact is felt in every aspect of our being.

 

 

About Taking Flight’s Grief Support Certification Training

 

Since grief affects every aspect of humanness, interventions must be holistic in nature. The grief theory and associated clinical methods taught during Taking Flight’s Grief Support Certification training address the effects of grief on every aspect of humanness. During this training you learn strategies, of proven success, which help and heal the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual manifestations of grief. Knowledge and practical skills for helping and healing behaviors that affect the social, cultural and natural environments of grieving persons are also included as important portions of the learning experiences.

 

A Different Approach to Healing

Maslow  (1954)                                    Simington (2000)

 

At Taking Flight International we acknowledge that the essence of human beings is spiritual, regardless of whether or how they participate in religious or cultural observations. All healing and education offered in Taking Flight’s Grief Support Certification Training build upon this philosophy. During the Grief Support Certification training you learn how to apply to grief therapy, the uses of  music, therapeutic art, guided visualization, and sacred rituals as ways to help and heal the body, mind, emotion, and spirit of the grieving persons to whom you offer support.

 

Click here to view a flyer for the next Grief Support Certification Training

 

Goals

 

The primary goal of Taking Flight’s Grief Support Certification Training is that all who attend gain advanced knowledge and skills to work in more holistic ways with individuals and in group settings, with those who have experienced grief.

Since basic to this program is the belief that a therapeutic helper can only bring another as far along the healing journey as the therapist has  already come, a secondary goal of this program is the facilitation of personal healing experiences for each participant.

 

Objectives

 

1) Gain knowledge and skill necessary to alleviate emotional and spiritual suffering as life ends

2) Receive advanced knowledge of grief and grief responses

3) Advance therapeutic counseling skills.

4) Apply numerous experiential activities to help and heal physical, emotional, mental, spiritual and behavioral manifestation of grief

5) Receive Certification to offer Grief Support to individuals and groups.

 

Education Process

 

During this interactive and experiential certification training you examine, in holistic ways the implications of supporting others during dying and through the grief experiences. You explore the stresses inherent to care-giving and practice self-care strategies which empower you as a therapeutic helper and which enhance the care-giving experience.

 

Methods

 

The teaching and learning methods used in the Grief Support Certification Training build upon the theories and practices that flow from holism, art as therapy, clinical hypnotherapy, and ancient healing methods. Human and universal energy field theory and practices are incorporated, as are the theories and practices of mental health nursing, sociology, and developmental, spiritual and counseling psychologies.

Each level of learning employs a four-part process, combining knowledge with experiential activities. This process does more than provide information and advance skills. When applied accurately and consistently, this method brings about healing for those involved.

 

Course Outline

Unit One: The Framework

Unit Two: Safety First

Unit Three: The Context of Grief

Unit Four: Grief across the Lifespan

Unit Five: Supporting as Death Draws Near

Unit Six: Applying Therapeutic Skills during a Time of Grief

Unit Seven: The Therapeutic Helper: Self Care and Team Support

 

Click here for a more detailed course outline

Benefits of the Grief Support Certification Training

 

1) Certification as a provider of grief support.

2) Tax credit made available

3) Approved for 40  CEU’s’ For Certification and Re-certification from Canadian Addiction Counselor’s Certificate Federations (CACCF).

Click here to learn about the relationships between Grief and Drug and Alcohol Uses.

Click here to learn about the education credits from CACCF.

4) Approved for Social Work Category A credits

5) Equivalent to one elective course (3 credits) or one elective or art therapy studio course toward a Master of Psychotherapy and Spirituality Degree from St. Stephen’s College, located on the University of Alberta Campus, Edmonton, Alberta.

6) Equivalent to one elective course (3 credits) toward a Master of Theological Studies from St. Stephen’s College.

7) Applicable to 15 personal counseling hours of the total personal counseling hours required by St. Stephen’s College for attainment of a Master degree in Psychotherapy and Spirituality.

Click here to learn about the education arrangements with St. Stephen’s College.

 

Who Should Take the Grief Support Certification Training?

 

Individuals in each of the groups listed below have the potential for experiencing grief.

If you are working with, or would like to work with, children, or adults from any of the following or similar groups, then this training is definitely for you.

• Anyone grieving the death of a family member, friend or colleague

• Anyone grieving the relocation of a family member, colleague or friend

• Anyone grieving the incapacity or death of a pet or favored animal

• Anyone grieving a severed relationship such as happens in separation or divorce

• Anyone living with a life threatening diagnosis

• Anyone living with a life-altering situation, such as a chronic condition or illness

• Anyone grieving the actual and anticipated losses related to the stages of development such as takes place for children with developmental challenges

• Anyone grieving the loss of a body part or alteration in functioning or daily living

• Anyone grieving the actual and anticipated losses related to relocation, including loss of home such as relocation to a care facility, or another country.

• Anyone grieving the loss of culture, cultural practices or language

• Anyone about to, or who has recently retired

• Anyone who have recently lost a job or valued position, including a loss of goals and dream

Those working with clients who have chronic conditions

Those working with clients in rehabilitation situations

Those working with residents in Assisted Living or in Long-term Care facilities.

 

Click here to obtain a Word Doc. Application for the Grief Support Certification Training.

 

Time Frame

 

Forty hours (40) of education and experiential activities are provided over a five day period. Two evening sessions (from 6:30-8:30) are required during the training week.

 

Next Training Dates

St. Albert, Alberta: June 10-14, 2013

 

 

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Click here to obtain a PDF Application for the Grief Support Certificate Training.

Click here to obtain a Word Doc. Application for the Grief Support Certification Training.

Click here to obtain a flyer of the next training.

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Costs

 

1) Option 1: With accommodation

= $2050 + 102.50 (GST) = $2152.50

Price includes meals, education, all books, materials, and certification.

2) Option 1: Without accommodation

= $1850 + 92.50 (GST) = $1942.50

Price includes lunch, education, all books, materials, and certification.

 

Application

 

We look forward to receiving your application. Please apply early. Space is limited.

Click here to view a flyer for our next Grief Support Certification Training.

Click here to obtain a PDF Application for the Grief Support Certification Training.

Click here to obtain a Word Doc. Application for the Grief Support Certification Training.

 

Reviews from Former Students Now Providing Grief Support

 

Click here for reviews from former students, now certified to offer Grief Support.

 

 

Video Reviews from Certified Providers of Grief Support

Click here to view more videos from former students, now certified to offer Grief Support.

 

 

 

WELCOME!

 

I have developed this program and taught it many times to many students and I look forward to personally approving your application, and welcoming you into Grief Support Certification Training. The knowledge, experience and personal growth you attain during this week will positively change you in numerous and various ways.   

                                                                                                                                                                                                             Dr. Jane A. Simington, PHD.

 

Alternate Training Arrangements

 

The Grief Support Certification Training is offered regularly in the Alberta Area. This training is also delivered in numerous other areas locally, nationally and internationally and can be delivered in your community. A minimum of 8 people are required to a maximum of 20 people.

Please call our toll free office number 1 866 473 6732 to discuss the possibility of bringing the Grief Support Certification Training to your community.

 

 

• For more information on training dates and applications CLICK HERE