Course Description:

All people experience different losses in their lifetime, from minor to overwhelming and life-changing. Grief and loss are uncomfortable topics to discuss. Just the thought of loss can bring to mind unpleasant memories, events, challenges, loneliness, anger, and confusion. Trying to understand and heal from a significant loss, whether it is a person, a pet, a house, an income, respect, or a goal, to name a few, can be difficult and scary.

Working with people who experience loss and are grieving can also be difficult for practitioners, as it may trigger our own unresolved grief. Multiple losses affect professionals via vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue, which will be discussed in this course.

This learning activity will also explore different types of loss, grief responses, what grief looks like, and coping strategies for grief. In addition, strategies for processing personal losses, while supporting individuals processing their own losses, are discussed.